The Sensei
by HollowRedBlood
Summary: All it takes is one teacher; one person to have faith in you. Naruto lived his life without that faith, without anyone ever truly believing in him. With the guidance of the few who do believe, Naruto will strive to change the world. Slight Revisions
1. Chapter 1

XXXXX

Naruto Uzumaki growled in frustration and ran to the Hokage's tower, when he realized one simple fact.

He was just thrown away for the Uchiha bastard by Kakashi. Naruto tried to ignore the pain in his chest at his rejection and continued to run. The Blonde knew he wasn't the smartest ninja on the block, but he sure knew when he was getting blown off, seeing it all too often in his life.

He realized just what the hell Kakashi was saying when his sensei managed to find another teacher for him. That Kakashi was trying to pass him off, so that he could kiss Sasuke's ass. But, that was not the part that pissed him off, oh no! It was when Kakashi told him that his sensei was none other than the closet pervert Ebisu, the one Naruto managed to beat using only his **Sexy Jutsu. **And at that, Naruto ran to the Hokage tower, to have a little talk with the village leader.

Seeing the large tower come within his view, he boosted his speed. At his arrival to the base of the building he ran in and charged up the staircase. There was no way in hell this could happen, not when so much was at stake.

XXXXX

The Hokage felt the familiar feeling of Naruto's chakra the moment the boy had his chakra flare. Looking out his window he saw the many people of the village working, running, and playing. Never did these people know that just one secret, one attack, one problem, and the village would collapse starting the Fourth great ninja war, once the other villages saw how weak they were.

But those people down there were civilians, and would prefer to be ignorant of the truth, than know of the mortal danger facing them every day.

He sighed in discontent when he realized that with no paperwork to do, the job was even more boring than ever.

Due to the arrival of the Chuunin exams, almost all ninja missions were cancelled, and all village affairs were turned over to the council, when they realized long ago, that one man could possibly never manage something as big as this. Any official Ninja business was to be handled by the council, so all ninja were at the beck and call of the council at this moment, taking all power away from the Hokage.

So here he was in his office, trying to enjoy the unofficial vacation he was taking, and wondering why the hell he was still in his damnable office. It was time for him to go, and leave to his own little camping trip. So he could be refreshed for the Chuunin Exams.

Suddenly a rapping on his door brought him from his thoughts and brooding.

XXXXX

Arriving to the Hokage's door, and ignoring the protests of the Guards and the Secretary, he knocked angrily, feeling his knuckles vibrate against the wood. The door swung open and Naruto arrived to see the old Kage looking at him serenely, possibly ignoring the boys anger, and his discomfort.

Now the Hokage was a lot of things, however, he was far from being dumb, and as such, knew the ways of the enigma Naruto, and his ways. But judging from what he could see, Naruto was severely pissed off.

"What can I do for you Naruto?" asked the Aged man. Naruto looked at him before realizing that if the Hokage was calm and composed, so could he. Naruto sighed before letting telling the Kage his tale. "Old man, can I get a teacher for the Chuunin exams?"

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and frowned "Well, why doesn't Kakashi teach you? Sasuke shouldn't be out of the hospital for at least another week?" Knowing the answer to what was to come. Kakashi had come by yesterday and asked for Ebisu to 'Assist him with training his students.'

"But that's just it! Kakashi doesn't want to train me, instead he passes me off to the closet pervert! I want win the tournament Old man, but without a GOOD teacher, I think I might lose to Sasuke-teme and Gaara." Naruto stated, completely forgetting Neji, or perhaps just not caring.

The old man frowned at hearing these words, before saying "Naruto, then who do you wish to train you? According to these records" The Hokage pulled out a large book. "There is no one available other than Ebisu. Naruto scowled before turning his head slightly, trying to hide his anger and frustration from the Hokage.

"How can I be Hokage if no one wants to help me!" The old man knew just what the boys problem was. Naruto hated to be rejected, and to be rejected by his sensei stung the little boy.

Although Naruto didn't show it, he was just as vulnerable as any other child, regardless of being a Ninja or not. Suddenly the Hokage had an idea that would possibly end both his boredom, and make Naruto happier than he has been in his life.

"Naruto, come here." The boy looked up and walked up to the man.

"Yes" he stated quietly.

"Currently, as Hokage, I am entitled to certain duties, rights, and areas, which I may use and perform. Naruto still felt slight tears rest on his eyes, as they stung and burned him gently, but the Blond still listened intently.

"What if I told you that I could train you?" At that moment, the room exploded… Or would have if Naruto wasn't shocked, he stared at the Old man…no, the Hokage, with resolve.

"Listen Naruto, if I were to train you, it would have to be top secret. I wouldn't want to start a war because I helped train someone to win a tournament who managed to defeat the Kazekage's son." Sarutobi added the last part, because he knew of Naruto's slight fear of the red-headed psychopath.

"But, what about all of your work…" Naruto looked around the room and realized that the usual stack of papers and scrolls, were missing.

"None of that is here to bother me, the village council has me covered…thank god" He chuckled slightly "And also, let me repeat that If I were to train you, this would be top secret, and no one, not even your teammates will know of your whereabouts."

Shaking his head quickly, he knew that to be trained by the Third Hokage, was not only a great honor, but also a chance in a lifetime.

"When can we start training…Sensei?" Hearing those words, Sarutobi felt his insides squirm a bit. He had not been called Sensei in a very long time. It was a saddening though. He was getting on in years.

"We can start now, just gather the supplies you need to survive outside for one month, and trust me we will make you worthy of being the next Hokage. Now, meet me here in one hour, and remember, do not tell anyone!

The last part had to be shouted due to the speed Naruto used to leave and return to his home for the supplies needed for their little 'trip'.

XXXXX

Naruto arrived at his home in record time, and formed ten clones to search the filthy home for clothes, weapons, and also food.

The real Naruto stayed back and looked gently around his decaying apartment, knowing that as filthy a place this was, this was the only home he could buy. Not because he was poor, no he was far from that, it was the fact that no one else wished to sell him a home, or rent him an apartment.

The building where Naruto lived was all but evacuated, thanks to a certain Blonde haired boy. There were other tenants living within the building with him, however, the other inhabitants of the building lived at the base, leaving the entire second floor to Naruto.

As quickly as the clones were formed, they all arrived in front of Naruto, holding two backpacks full of equipment and supplies for the training to ensue for the next month. Maybe, when this was all over, he would ask the Old man to help him find a new home.

Leaping out of his window, he turned to see Sakura walking with a bouquet of flowers, heading in the direction away from the Hospital. "Hey! Sakura!"

Sakura looked behind her, ignoring the sadness she felt at being rejected by Sasuke again. "Yeah Naruto? Can you see I'm busy?" Hearing her tone and seeing her face, Naruto sighed as he looked at her before jumping away.

XXXXX

The Hokage glanced at the picture of the Fourth Hokage, hanging gently on his wall. Walking over to his late successor he sighed "Will you ever forgive me?" He closed his eyes and looked away sadly, feeling the guilt grow within him. He hoped that he could help his soul, and redeem himself in the eyes of Naruto's father.

The Hokage already had his items packed for a trip into the forest surrounding Konoha, however, he did not expect to have a little boy tag along. Therefore instead of going to relax in the wilderness, he was going to travel to the one area he knew no one would follow him.

The Forest of Death.

There he would be safe, and could train Naruto. Also it was secluded and would stop spies from learning what he was doing. The doors slammed open and the Hokage nearly jumped in surprise, were it not for the years of training that had turned him into a hardened Shinobi.

"Ok Old man, let's go get some training done!" The Hokage sighed and glanced at Naruto. The will to learn and beat his rival, who had yet to acknowledge his existence, reminded him of something from the past, when he had 3 little kids to look after.

XXXXX

Three hours later…

The Third Hokage situated himself within a clearing within the Forest of Death near a river of clear water. Dropping his usual Kage clothes in favor of his combat shinobi attire, he glanced at Naruto.

Naruto glanced around sadly, when he swore to himself. He hoped he would never come back to this place again, but fate was a cruel mistress, and sent him back to this hell, in only Seventy-two hours.

"Naruto, it's time to see what you know, and hopefully, it's not farting in someone's face." The Blonde looked down at those words, hiding a blush. The Third smirked, before aptly placing a fist within Naruto gut. Naruto was forced back several feet, before gaining his balance, and wiping some blood from his mouth.

"You cheated!"

"Well, I beg to differ, as a Ninja, there is no 'fair.'" Naruto winced in pain when he took a position to prepare for an attack. Suddenly a kick came to the side of Naruto's head and he realized one thing.

The old man could fight, and if he wanted to, could kill him as well.

Naruto grabbed the leg before swinging the Hokage around and threw him towards the tree behind the himself. Flipping himself around in the air, the Aged man grinned as he stuck to the base of the tree. Looking around him, he saw hundred of clones, armed with kunai, ready to charge him.

Glancing around, he spotted the real Naruto, still standing in the exact same position he was. With a wide grin, the Hokage held up a single shuriken. "Naruto all those clones are USELESS!"

The old man threw the single ninja star and bellow out one command. "**Kage Shuriken Jutsu!"** On that one command the single star turned into two-hundred and sliced through every clone Naruto had created.

Naruto looked around and saw each and every one of the clones die. Even the two underground and one behind the tree!

In shock he saw the smirking man drop from the tree. Naruto growled before charging forward, he threw his right hand to the Kage's face, before the Hokage caught it with both hands.

Naruto smirked and let something slide out of the sleeve of his coat, a hidden kunai knife. Of course however, the Hokage already knew of the trick and grabbed the hand holding the kunai, and held both of Naruto's hands within his own, both gripping each other, and looking into each other's eyes. Quickly, Sarutobi jumped a foot into the air and mule kicked Naruto's chest. Knocking the breath out him and winning the fight.

XXXXX

Later that night...

Naruto rested by the fire after their fight, cradling his sore chest. He stared at the fire for some time, before asking one question.

"Do you know any fire techniques?"

XXXXX

The Hokage looked back on the night when Naruto had asked to learn fire jutsu. When they learned Naruto could not mold chakra, something was up. After nearly two hours of examining the boy trying to figure out the problem, the Hokage finally knew. He told Naruto to raise his shirt, so that he could examine the seal placed over the fox. To his surprise, the seal had another seal placed over it.

He knew the seal was of Orochimaru's design. After a few moments, he removed the seal, and knew it was time for Naruto to learn a basic fire jutsu. In four days, Naruto was being instructed on the basics of chakra, molding it, and releasing it. The Third was surprised of the boys willingness to learn, and took the lessons to heart. Later on that morning, it was time to start the performing the jutsu.

Naruto had done as he was told. He formed the seals needed to create a fireball, carefully molded the chakra, and shouted **"Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu" **The clearing was cleared, as a large orb of flame sterilized the area.

For several hours he did as he was told and repeated the same technique over and over again. The Hokage was surprised to learn of the boys remarkable aptitude toward fire, or maybe its sister element, wind, which could possibly help increase his abilities. He knew the boy had not mastered the element, however, Naruto showed enough skill to wield flames and control it to an extent.

That was when the Third decided to experiment with just what Naruto could do.

Out of all the elements in the lands, fire abilities required the most chakra. Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning were materials that were usually available, and most Ninja could acquire the elements from their own Natural surroundings. Unfortunately, fire had to be molded and created from chakra, draining the user's chakra by a substantial amount. That was why fire jutsu are used in bursts. To constantly expend chakra for more than few seconds was taxing. Even normal jounin had trouble using such ability for more than a dozen seconds.

However the advantages were sure to be shown, as the speed and heat of such techniques usually outweighed the disadvantages, burning the toughest of ninja gear in seconds, and with its speed outrunning many Jounin. Due to Naruto's insane amount of chakra, and the ability he had to restore such an amount within seconds thanks to the fox, made Naruto a perfect candidate for wielding fire jutsu.

Nearly forty fire balls had been fired since Naruto had first performed the Jutsu, and all of them had managed to be performed to a deadly level. Naruto held his head high, as he was about to perform the jutsu again when suddenly Sarutobi stopped him.

"Enough, Naruto." The boy had held the final seal, before, releasing it and glancing at the Kage.

"Well Sensei, how was that?" Naruto grinned stupidly, knowing of his achievement.

Sarutobi smirked at the boy, and felt his heart swell when he heard the boy call him 'Sensei'. Sarutobi cleared his throat, before looking into Naruto's eyes. "It's time that you start moving on to another Jutsu. Stale moves can lead to the death of a Shinobi."

The Third had planned to teach Naruto three jutsu to help him win the tournament.

"Old ma- I mean Sensei, what can Neji do? He is supposed to be strong, but when I saw Hinata fight that bastard, all they seemed to do was…slap each other, and for some reason, those attacks seemed to be killing her." The Third frowned at those words when he realized that Naruto had no knowledge of just who he was facing in the exam. Intelligence in the Ninja world could decide life or death.

"Naruto, do you know anything about your opponents in the exam? Neji is powerful for a reason, and that is due to his clans fighting style and bloodline." The elderly Man knew Naruto had no clue just what his opponent's abilities were, and just what kind of harm they could inflict. Luckily, Sarutobi already had information gathered on all the Chuunin potentials.

"Sensei, I don't know anything about the people in the exam, except for Sasuke." The Hokage frowned at those words before stating the solution to the problems.

"Are you ready to study?"

XXXXX

Neji stood quietly in his training area, with his Byakugan activated, tracking his Sensei and Female teammate. Suddenly dozens of shuriken erupted from the foliage surrounding him, leaving nowhere to run, and no way to block.

As quickly the attack came, chakra was released from all of his external Tenketsu (This is the correct spelling I hope) and spun him in a perfect orb of chakra. "**Kaiten!" **He bellowed. The shuriken smashed into the wall of chakra, but their trajectory, was altered, making the attacks sail harmlessly away.

"That's enough Neji." His teacher said gently. "I know that you want to continue, however, you cannot expend more chakra" He said the Hyuuga. This was the fifth time Neji had performed the technique and already he felt as though he was going to pass out.

Gai-Sensei had turned to leave and sighed. "Come on Neji, let's go visit Lee, then we'll go eat." said the Weapons Mistress. Neji glanced around the small field before clearing his throat, taking note of the many weapons and holes in the ground in their training.

"You can't change fate." Neji told his sensei "Lee was destined to lose the fight against Gaara, it had to be done."

"Neji, when this match is over, you will learn that fate is simply an excuse used by cowards." At those word he became enraged at the remark and activated his Byakugan unconsciously; unfortunately, Gai was nowhere to be seen.

Tenten looked upon the whole exchange with sad eyes, when she realized that team Gai was falling apart.

Only fate would tell if the team would stay together, or disband.

XXXXX

Naruto glanced at his hand before concentrating chakra to it again. He was trying to force his chakra to the area around his hand, to create a jutsu used for close range combat using fire. He felt it was impossible to perform such a deed.

He took off his jacket to cool himself down in the hot forest. Only Seventeen days were left and Naruto still felt as though he were behind. Naruto was glad that he knew most of the abilities of the genin, learning of their abilities, clan jutsu, and the like. Unfortunately, nothing was turned up on Gaara.

The Old man told Naruto that the point of the one month waiting period was not exactly for training. It was for gathering intelligence on the enemy and exploiting a weakness. However, the Hokage knew of Naruto's lack of abilities, and therefore decided to simply train the boy's ass off.

All the knowledge that the boy was missing would be filled in by him of course. After all, the Hokage had quite an impressing intelligence network. The Kage examined Naruto's hand happily, seeing the chakra form around it.

This was step one of course. The next part would involve Naruto to infuse his chakra with flame, and therefore create an original jutsu only Naruto knew. Naruto held the chakra around his hand, sweat pouring from his forehead as he tried to hold the chakra there. He glanced at his Sensei, and noticed the smirk on his face.

At that moment, Naruto decided to proceed to the next step without the permission from the old man. Applying the chakra manipulation principals that the Third told him, he suddenly felt the chakra around his hand turn to flame.

That was when the Problem started.

He heard Sarutobi shout some words to Naruto, however, those words fell to deaf ears. Naruto was more concentrated on the pain in his hand. The flames swirled around his fingers, and Naruto could see the flesh blacken.

The pain was sickening as and he could feel the flames creeping up his arm.

And all of this happened in three seconds, and the shout of "**Fire Suppression Jutsu**" was all he heard before passing out.

XXXXX

The Hokage smiled happily at his new student when he formed the chakra around his hand. Rapidly however, it all changed when the chakra turned to flames.

"Naruto stop!" was all the Kage could say when the boys hand started to burn.

It was as though time slowed, and only one thing could be done.

Reaching into his chest pocket, he pulled out a scroll, and with a pre-inked brush, used for sealing items quickly; he slashed hundreds of seals across the scroll within a second and placed his chakra within the seals. "**Fire Suppression Jutsu**" was all that he could say before the seals activated and the flames on Naruto's arm came rushing towards the scroll.

That was when Naruto slumped over, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Rushing forward, he caught the boy, and placed him inside of the tent they had prepared. Taking Naruto to a hospital would arouse much suspicion.

Forming several seals, Sarutobi's hand grew green and went to work on Naruto's hand, but to his surprise, the boys blackened skin began to flake off, and beneath that, lied brand new skin.

Sarutobi let the healing technique be released, as he examined the younger mans hands closer. His eyes could have fooled him because as the skin flaked away, it turned to dust and fell to the floor.

"Such a devastating jutsu." He whispered in wonder. He continued to look at the boys hands noting that in only ten minutes time, the flesh had re-grown, and all that remained to show what happened was the pink coloring of his hands.

Sarutobi quietly thanked the fox for protecting the boy, but felt grief when he remembered the burden the boy had to carry.

When this was all over, he would treat Naruto to some ramen.

XXXXX

Naruto had no idea just what was going on, he remembered the being within the Forest of Death, training with the Third, feeling his hands set on fire and aptly passing out. He lay in the middle of a pool of water before slowly getting up.

Looking around he felt and looked as though he were in a sewer. The wall were concrete he noted, and pipes lined the ceiling. Also there was a familiar scent in the air, accompanying with it the sound of breathing.

Following the sound, he came across several passages before finally finding the real one.

And he wished he hadn't.

Before him lay a great cage, greater than even the Hokage tower. Slowly, he walked forward, and saw a massive creature behind the bars.

"Kyuubi" was all that was said before the heavy breathing stopped, and a pair of large red eyes was directed in his direction. "**Human…What does a weakling such as you want?" **It echoed throughout the area before the enormous form of the beast moved towards the cage.

Naruto felt his insides turn in fear and was about to pass out were it not for his steely resolve. "Hey, shut your damn mouth!" The fox was momentarily stunned before calming from its rage, and setting its two eyes upon Naruto.

"**I have lived more than all of the lifetimes from your village, and not one creature, demon, and being have ever said that to me." **The fox stated quietly **"Even your precious Fourth Hokage respected me greatly"** The fox continued to eye Naruto before allowing itself a toothy grin.

"**How may I help you, child?"**

"Well, I guess I kinda came in here by accident, hahaha." Naruto tried to hide his nervousness. The demons eyes narrowed, and a faint growling could be heard.

"Umm, I'm training to beat people in a tournament, wanna help me train?"

Did foxes growl?

"**How about I leave some valuable knowledge? If you were to fight Gaara, then learn to summon, only then will you be able the fight such a beast."** The words of the fox shocked Naruto greatly, not only for helping, but also because the Nine tailed fox knew of Gaara. Was the fox looking at everything through his eyes?

Before Naruto could ask such a question, be felt himself flung back into the physical world.

XXXXX

Naruto awoke quietly in what he could recognize as his tent.

The Blonde raised the hand he remembered he burned to his face. To his surprise, his hand was slightly paler than the rest of skin, but otherwise completely new. He glanced around gently and could he some noise coming from the outside.

Naruto grabbed his jacket lying on the side of him, and put it on. Feeling fresh and relaxed, he stepped out the tent. The Third Hokage was waiting for him outside of the tent holding a piece of cloth in his hands, and holding a small brush. "How are you Naruto? Or should I say how your hand is?"

"I feel good Sensei, what are you doing?" The Kage held up a pair of gloves within his hand and changed the subject.

"Naruto? Do you know what that jutsu did?" Naruto shook his head and continued to watch the Hokage, curious as to where this was going.

"The jutsu we have just tried did something I had never seen before." The man took a breath of air before going into his 'explanation mode'. It was one of the reasons he was called the 'Professor'.

"When you created the technique, the flames you had created were not…normal. When a fire is started, they need to have a form of fuel to continue to burn. When you perform a fire jutsu, the flames dissipate because there is no more chakra to sustain it. Even then, you cannot continue to feed a fire jutsu chakra, because when the original chakra is gone, the fire becomes just a regular blaze."

The old man paused, before going again.

"Your chakra seems to have a unique property…from what I saw, this fire jutsu you have created apparently…burns chakra. We need to test this out again, but with your permission. If this jutsu can do what I think it can do, you will have a powerful jutsu only you may create."

He held up the two gloves he had been holding, and handed them to Naruto. "I have placed several seals on and within the gloves to resist fire, not only that but the gloves should hold the flames away from your chakra. With this we just might be able to control the fire.

Naruto stared at the gloves before placing them on quickly, and looking at them. The gloves were your standard black shinobi gear. Fingerless so that jutsu could be performed with minimal resistance, still provide grip for weapons, and protect the hands from hard strikes. He looked at the back of his hands to the metal plate, and instead of the Leaf Village symbol being on the back, there were dozens of seals, all placed within an intricate pattern.

The old man grinned at the boys look of wonder as he examined the gloves.

"Do you want to try the jutsu again Naruto?"

Naruto looked apprehensively at the gloves before saying "Yes Sensei." He had faith that these would work. The boy walked up to the middle of the clearing and closed his eyes.

Raising his hand, the boy felt chakra begin to flow into it. Naruto continued to concentrate until he had enough chakra.

Opening his eyes, he turned his chakra into flame.

Naruto bit his lip when he expected the flames to harm him, yet, the glove kept the flames from reaching his wrist, and to his surprise, his fingers were cool too.

The Third walked over to him and formed several seals. To Naruto's amazement, the earth next to him slowly began to rise until the form of the Third Hokage was standing next to the original.

"Naruto, strike the clone" Said the maker of the doppelganger.

At those words, Naruto bit his bottom lip and felt slightly queasy at hitting the Hokage, even if it was a clone.

Pulling his flaming hand back, he made a fist and struck at the Earth clone's side.

The clone took the punch without even wincing and looked below its 'ribcage', where Naruto struck him.

To the real Hokage's shock, the clone's chest was set ablaze within seconds.

Starting from where it was struck, the flames continued to travel along the clones body as though it were doused in gasoline. Then the clone turn back to mud, but the flames still rested on the remains, until several seconds, when the flames died.

"I see…"

Naruto quirked his eyebrow before asking "See what?"

"Naruto, that was an earth clone, fire jutsu have little or no effect on such beings. Yet, it appears that my theory is true. The clone I had created only had the amount of chakra most Chuunin have. Naruto, promise me you will never use this on an ally."

"Yea, I promise." Naruto however, felt a large amount of excitement in the fact that this new jutsu he had created could be shown off to his friends. Quickly he remembered the words of the fox, and the words it imparted. Looking at the old man smiles and happy demeanor, he decided to ask about summoning…without mentioning the fox.

"Sensei" he asked in a polite tone "Do you think I can learn to summon?" Sarutobi glanced at Naruto, before asking him one thing.

"What do you want to summon?"

XXXXX

Slightly revising the story a bit and cutting down the size.

Let me also say that Naruto will not 'transform into the fox', and have some fox ears, permanent red eyes, tail, super abilities, have harems after him, godly powers (but he will be strong), flying, pheromones that enable every woman to fall in love with him, control the fox, summon the fox into chibi form, talk with the fox every waking moment of his life, fuck a female Kyuubi, have Naruto transported to a different world (Harry Potter), and pretty much any other bullshit you can think of.

5.6k Words.

Review.


	2. Chapter 2

XXXXX

He glanced at his newly acquired gloves before frowning.

He didn't even know what summoning really was. He only asked because the fox had told him so. The only creature he knew for a fact that was summoned, were those giant snakes he had seen in this exact forest.

So without even thinking of what could occur, he decided to say the creature he knew was that was a summon. "Snakes." He answered simply, however when he saw the Hokage's face, Naruto knew that he never should have said such a thing.

The first sign that something was wrong with the Hokage was when his hands clenched into fists, and his bottom lip was bitten. Apparently, the Hokage had forgotten to hide his emotions, and what surfaced on the old man's face was sadness, or was it dread?

Unfortunately, Naruto was right when he guessed at the emotions on the Kage's face. Going through the Man's head were memories of the past. In front of him sat Naruto, sitting in the exact same position as his old favorite student.

Naruto gazed at him concernedly, but Sarutobi ignored it. Naruto had asked to summon snakes, looking, and asking the same way as Orochimaru. Feeling sick he continued to look at Naruto, feeling no evil intent behind those eyes, no plan to kill all, no desire for power, nothing, just pools of blue.

He knew he could not fail Naruto however.

Quickly he put his emotions in check, before putting a smile on his face. He would not fail this boy, like he did to Minato and Orochimaru.

"Naruto? Are you sure? Summoning is more difficult than you could possibly imagine. How about I teach you another jutsu?" However, Naruto knew that he could not learn another jutsu. If the fox left him those words of wisdom, he knew that deep inside, he would have to obey such advice.

"Please, I need to learn this, it could help me. Maybe you could let me summon something else, like…pigs, or chickens, or cows." Naruto really had no idea what kind of summons there really were out there.

He also knew that Naruto could not summon any other type of beings, due to the Toad and Slug contract being away from the village. Enma was indebted to his clan, as were the rest of the monkeys, and would not help anyone outside of it, and the Dog contract…well, Kakashi would be more likely to teach Naruto Chidori than let him sign something like that. That only left the one summoning contract left in the village that was available.

The Third continued to look at Naruto before sighing; no one had ever signed the Snake contract, not for nearly twelve years. Anko was the last Snake summoner.

No one had wished to sign the contract for one simple reason.

Ever since Orochimaru had defected, all those connected, or at least knew the Snake, had to convince the village that they were not a part of the Snake Sannin's crowd. Sarutobi nearly lost his job because of that. It was an unspoken rule within the village, that if you were to summon snakes, you were shunned, until you broke away from such a contract.

Unfortunately, there were only two ways to be released from the Snake contract. Beating Manda, the lord of all snakes, in a duel…or sacrificing your arms to the snakes. Either one was not a very good choice.

If Naruto became a snake summoner, the boy would possibly be even more of an outsider. Anko was not treated as bad as the boy, but still, she was exiled from most activities. Add to that a distrust that the council held, and the poor girl could never be part of the village's assembly.

"Naruto, if you were to summon snakes, no one must know, similarly to your newly created jutsu." The Hokage paused before resuming. "The ability to summon snakes is not as glorious as many make it out to be. With the contract comes a duty that must be carried out for the snake clan."

"What are you talking about? What duties come with summoning?" Naruto asked uneasily.

"Sacrifice" Was the simple answer from the Hokage. Naruto swallowed whatever lump within his throat, and continued to look at the Hokage. "The snakes are possibly one of the most powerful summons in the ninja world. The snakes are fast, strong, and cunning. Not only that, but they will almost always kill their prey. But such power comes with a price."

Sarutobi examined Naruto and continued on with their dark conversation.

"The snake king demands a human sacrifice for every snake used in combat. You can wait to give the snakes their sacrifice, but in the end, you must give a human life in order to continue to use the Serpents."

"Is there any way I don't have to give a sacrifice? I mean, doesn't that seem kinda unfair. I only use them once and I have to give them a life?"

"Naruto!" The old man shouted, slightly angry.

"When will you realize that being a Ninja is not just about fighting? This is life or death, and the snakes know it. In exchange for them placing their life on the line for you, they want to take their enemies existence."

"But there has to be a way! A life for every time I summon them! What if I have to use them? What if I need them and I don't want to give a person up?"

"In the history of the leaf village, only 17 snake summoners have existed, and only one managed to get out of that deal…the Second Hokage."

"See, there is a way! I'll just do whatever he did and then I won't have to worry anymore." Naruto stated happily, but when he saw the Hokage's bleak look he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"In order to summon without having to use up a human life, you must beat the snake king, Manda."

"Well that doesn't sound too hard."

The Hokage smirked at those words and glanced at Naruto before sighing, there was no way to win with this kid. The Hokage stood up from his position. "Let's return to the village, we have some work to do."

XXXXX

Naruto felt slightly strange to return to the village. When he looked around, the cold stares and crude gestures were no longer given to him; possibly due to the fact that he was with the Hokage.

The Old man returned to his Kage robes and hat, and walked along the street like an old man.

'Clever' Naruto thought. Most people would see a feeble old man, but Naruto knew what was lurking in those old bones.

Arriving at a small home located along the street, they came to the home they were searching for. The Hokage stood on the step and knocked gently. The door swiftly opened, and there was the last person Naruto ever wanted to see.

"It's the crazy lady!" The Blonde shouted in terror before reaching for his kunai. Sadly, his many knives seemed to be missing. After a moment of shock, he found them again…held against his neck by a long tongue.

Despite holding a blade within her mouth, she still spoke fluently.

"Hmm, it's you again, what do you want with a lady like me?" She asked seductively. Unfortunately, Naruto could feel no lust for the woman, just terror. This woman had a feeling about her that told plenty. If you cross her, you will die.

"Anko, enough of that, he's frightened enough. We have business to discuss."

Slowly the woman returned the knife and had a strange look upon her face.

"Alright, make yourself at home." She stated without the usual malice and lust within her tone.

The Hokage stepped in, as did the woman, leaving Naruto outside.

After several seconds he decided to step within the walls of the 'Crazy Bitch Lair'. The home was a small ground level house. With plants all over her living room, and a small kitchen connected to the living room, along with two small couches and various stands. He never imagined she would live like a normal human being.

Slowly he walked to the center of the house with the two other Shinobi.

"Anko, we require the snake contract." Sarutobi said amiably.

To his amazement, the woman's jaw dropped several inches, and she looked at Sarutobi like he was a crazy man. "Why do you want to summon snakes, I thought you had those apes?"

"Well, I don't wish to bind myself to snakes, this young man here does." The purple haired woman did a double take at Naruto before placing on her cocky grin.

"Ya think you're up for it little guy?" Naruto nodded, and continued to keep his mouth shut.

"We need the contract, if you would please allow us to access it, I would be much obliged. You also need not worry about the sacrifice, I have that covered."

Anko took on a serious demeanor and bit her thumb. After several seals, a snake as large as a full grown human emerged in a puff of smoke. The snake glanced at Anko before opening its mouth. Within a second, a large scroll slowly began to emerge from within the bowels of the snake, Anko reached down to pick it up.

The scroll was as large as Naruto, and possibly as heavy. The Snake summoner placed the scroll upon the floor and opened it for all to see.

Within were many names, and from what Naruto could see, Anko was the last.

"Alright kid, first write your name in blood right here." She said pointing to a blank space next to her name. He raised an eyebrow before he took out his kunai and cut the tip of his thumb. Letting the blood flow to his index finger, he spelled his name out carefully.

"That's it! You're done, now just watch my hand seals carefully and mimic them. Afterwards just place chakra within the jutsu and 'poof!' a snake will come." Naruto sweat dropped at her explanation, but practiced the seals several times. Soon the Hokage and Naruto said their thanks and turned around to leave.

"Take the scroll with you; it will help the snakes believe that you are a new summoner. Just return it later." Naruto took note of those words and took the scroll with him, following the Hokage. 'Yep, it's heavy.' He though.

"Where are we going now?" he asked happily, knowing that now, he was a summoner.

"To the Anbu headquarters if you want to summon snakes."

XXXXX

Hidden underneath the Hokage monument lay possibly one of the most secure, and secretive areas within Konoha.

It was here that the secretive Anbu were taught, trained, tortured, and imprisoned.

That was what was told to Naruto, who had absolutely no idea what to expect. The Blonde was blindfolded and led through a series of corridors leading from the Hokage tower to the base. After twenty minutes, Naruto and the Hokage finally arrived at their destination which was the training area. At this time Naruto was allowed to remove his headband placed over his eyes.

And the sight shocked him.

Nearly a Hundred feet high was the ceiling, and the area was as large as Team 7's training area. "Wow" was all Naruto managed to utter before the Hokage chuckled at the young man's reaction.

"It's time to begin your training…"

XXXXX

1 days left until the Chuunin exams…

Jiraiya glanced around the bathhouse, taking note of all the women and breasts. They were two separate beings to him after all.

Sighing he turned his eyes and continued to wonder just where in the hell Sensei was. The old bastard should have been in his office, even during his vacation. Just goes to show you that he didn't know the old man as well as he thought.

He slowly put away his notepad and peeping-binoculars, and began his search in Konoha for Sarutobi. He needed to find him. Leaping onto the bathhouse roof, he ignored the shrieks from the women of "Flying Pervert", and moved on. There were more important things to do. He continued to survey the village until something caught his eye.

A bright orange jumpsuit.

He ran down towards the boy, and caught sight of something he hoped to never see again in his life. Standing next to the boy was the Third Hokage, holding a large scroll, which was as big as the boy. Jiraiya knew that was the scroll to summon snakes.

They were standing in front of a small home, and suddenly the door opened up.

Standing in front of the two of them was a woman with a nice large rack purple hair, a trenchcoat, and good features. But also, this woman was the student of Orochimaru, and forced to carry the burden of a Cursed Seal.

An exchange of words occurred, and the purple haired woman gave a heated kiss to the boy, followed by her long tongue. 'Oh god!' Jiraiya thought, feeling hot under the collar. When the woman was handed the contract and she closed the door, it was then that he decided to reveal himself.

"Seems that you've been busy since I've been gone." Taking note of his old Sensei's new student. Suddenly, he realized just who his new student was.

Before him with a sad face, stood the pariah of the Leaf Village.

Uzumaki Naruto, the Holder of the Nine Tailed Fox, and judging from the exchange he had seen, he could deduce that the boy was also the newest Serpent Summoner.

"Jiraiya, it good to see you again. How are you?" Said the old man, however Sarutobi knew just what was to come.

"Don't tell me that this boy is the newest Snake summoner that my Toads have been talking about…I thought we had a deal!"

"Hey! Don't talk to Sensei like that you bastard! I should just beat the shit out of you right here and now!" Naruto stated angrily.

Sarutobi couldn't feel anything but pride when Naruto stood up for him, and Jiraiya was…not expecting that sort of reaction. However, the Sannin quickly came back with a retort.

"You dare speak to me like that! The Legendary Sannin Jiraiya! The Toad Mountain Sage, and World Renowned Author!" He stated and pulled out one of his books for good measure.

Sarutobi didn't show it, but Jiraiya was quite good at diffusing situations and they usually brought smiles to his face. Their exchange lasted for minutes as both continued to mock each other. Finally, when the Third had enough, he calmly told the boy to leave.

"What about this guy?" Naruto said pointing to Jiraiya.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to handle this, go home and rest. Meet me at Eight-Thirty, at Ichiraku's, ramen is on me tonight. Naruto grinned, jumping to the rooftops and running away. After all, free ramen was at stake. When Naruto had left the vicinity, the pair looked at each other before running to the Hokage tower.

Within record time, both men arrived within the Hokage office. Jiraiya was first to start the conversation.

"Judging from what I saw, I guess the boy is the newest snake summoner?"

"Yes Jiraiya, I'm sorry. It was the only scroll available within the village, and you know Kakashi is busy training the last Uchiha."

"Yes, but if you contacted me sooner, the child would not have deal with the burden of snakes, you made a deal with me that Naruto would summon Toads."

"Please, do not place the blame on me, Naruto wished for the snakes, knowing of the consequences, and accepted. Not only that, but the pact is sealed. He offered the first sacrifice yesterday." Sarutobi said somberly. "And while you were busy playing favorites and fawning over the other, you forgot the one who was alone and by himself."

Jiraiya paled when he heard those words and felt his stomach tighten.

"How did the boy handle it?" Remembering the sight of glee on Orochimaru's face, when the boy had offered his first sacrifice.

"If it wasn't for you, Naruto would still be mourning for the enemy ninja."

"Do you think he is really willing to offer human lives?"

"No." Was the answer, and he continued "because he is not going to offer human life easily, I can think of no better summoner." Silence slowly began to creep upon the office, and Jiraiya turned slightly towards the window, ready to jump out.

"The Daimyo of the Fire Country is coming, and with him is his granddaughter." Jiraiya slowly walked up to the window and placed a foot outside. "I have trained her, and she is unstable, she knows of her Father, and will seek Naruto out, so watch her." Sarutobi felt sick at those words, as Jiraiya left the building.

He knew it was bound to happen sometime. Natsuki meeting Naruto.

XXXXX

Naruto glanced at the ceiling above him trying his best to forget the incident that happened yesterday.

_Flashback_

_Naruto had finally done it._

_Before him lay a large Snake, nearly fifty feet long. He looked around before realizing that he was all alone. The many Anbu monitoring his training and the Hokage had silently moved away._ _The only indication that the Hokage had been next to him was the large scroll opened before the snake showing in bright red, Naruto's name._

**"**_**My name isss Kossshi .What does a boy like you wisssh from me?"**_

"_I want to use your power" Naruto stated aloud, remembering the speech the Hokage had told him to prepare._

**"**_**For my sssservices, I shall require the livesss of other human, as shall the rest of my kin."**__ The snake stated as It continued to eye the boy._

"_I agree to the terms" Naruto stated._

_That was when Naruto started to regret his decision._ _Quickly the Hokage and several Anbu emerged from the shadows._ _With them, lay the struggling from of a man. Bound all around his body were ropes, holding the man's hands, feet, and mouth._

"_Naruto, here is the sacrifice." The Hokage stated, pointing to the struggling form._ _The Blonde however did not know what to think, he knew he would have to give a human life, but now? Here?_

**"**_**So thisss is the one to be offered to me?"**__ The snake bent down and flicked it tongue towards the body before its eyes twinkled._

_Naruto could only nod his head dumbly, and continued to watch._

**"**_**Thisss one shall do"**__ Slowly the maw of the beast opened and muffled screams of terror began rise from the man._

_Quick as lightening, the snake stabbed its fangs at its meal, the teeth sinking deep within the torso; to inject venom and paralyze its victim. _

_In several seconds, the screams stopped, and the quivering stopped moments after. However, the prisoner's eyes continued look upon the snake, and then to Naruto._ _When Naruto looked into the captives eyes, he saw not only fear, but a look of helplessness._ _As Naruto continued to stare at the man's eyes, they were quickly covered by scales._

_Silently, the snake had moved in and opened its jaws, and promptly swallowed the man whole with little effort. Starting from the man's head, the only thing Naruto saw before the man was gone was his feet._ _Naruto was about to vomit, feeling sick from seeing someone eaten. He knew. He just knew that he would offer people for the snakes, but…when it came down to it; the deed was far more disgusting and twisted than what he thought._

**"**_**You have done right by me, but tell me? What do you wisssh to use my power for?" **__Stated Koshi._

_Naruto was caught off guard by the question. He temporarily forgot about the prisoner. The only reason he wanted to summon was because the Fox had told him that it would beat Gaara. Coming up with the only answer he could, the teaching of Kakashi rose within his mind._

"_I want to protect my friends, and everyone else who is important to me." Said the Blonde._

_The snake lowered its head down to Naruto's level and tilted its head slightly to eye the boy._

**"**_**Isss that what you truly wish to ussse my power for? To protect othersss?"**__ The snake said in a mocking tone._

_After a few moments of thinking he returned the glare to the snake. "Yeah, I want to save everyone who is precious to me. Do you have a problem with that?"_

_Naruto heard gasps behind him from the several Anbu, but he didn't care, that was one of his reasons he was a ninja, so that he could protect everyone, and if this snake was going to make fun of him, then he was going to have a problem with this bastard._

_Again, the eyes of the snake twinkled, and a sound began to emanate from deep within the snakes throat. To his amazement, the snake laughed out loud._

**"**_**When you summon me again, I shall help you. You amuse me greatly. Think of this sacrifice as…pre-payment."**_ A_nd in a massive cloud of smoke, the hebi disappeared._

_Suddenly Naruto fell to his knee, and let loose the single tear he had been holding down._

_Slowly, the Hokage walked up to the boy and wrapped his arms around him. Killing a man was not an easy thing to do, and Naruto's reaction only proved his theory that the boy would never become Orochimaru._

"_Who was he Sensei?" _

_Sarutobi was slightly taken off guard by the question, and answered "He was Hiro of the Stone, a B-class ninja. He was sent here to spy within our village, and was to be executed within three days."_

_Naruto knew he had scored his first kill._

_Suddenly the boy passed out._

_End of Flashback_

Although he never knew of the man, the look of helplessness he had…still remained within his mind. The man was an enemy ninja, so it was a necessity.

He could feel the sickness rise within him, and ran toward the bathroom to empty its contents. After ten minutes within the bathroom, he came out and looked at the clock. He had to meet the Hokage within five minutes at Ichiraku's. Leaving his jacket off, he ran out of his window, to the ramen stand.

XXXXX

Sakura couldn't feel any worse.

Here she was lying, on her bed and looking at the ceiling. She was left all alone. No matter where she looked, she could not find her beloved Sasuke. Nor could she find Naruto, or Kakashi.

Of course she knew they were training, but she could help but feel so weak. They were out trying to better themselves, and here she was feeling sorry for herself. That realization only made her feel worse. Moping around the village, she had already done everything she wanted.

She found a new pair of shoes, several nice dresses, bought a new kunai set with several shuriken. She also found several kuniochi from the different teams and had chatted up a storm with them.

All in all, she was lonely.

Getting up from her bed, she walked out of her room, down the stairs, and out the front door. She already knew where she was to go, and that was to an old friend named Ino; walking for several minutes, preferring the scenery.

Turning a corner, she was only a few blocks away from the flower shop; suddenly she felt a familiar presence.

Looking up, she saw her Blonde teammate run across the rooftops, in the direction of his favorite ramen shop. Quickly, she started to run towards the shop, avoiding the many people in the way. Turning the block, she finally arrived to the shop, and to her surprise, she saw the Hokage there too.

"…it's ok, I understand, now come on lets go eat." Was all that was said before they turned inside to eat.

Sakura walked up to the stand and threw aside the curtain.

"Naruto! Where have you been?" she wasn't angry, just relieved to finally meet her other teammate. Although he was annoying, it felt good to see him again.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" he stated, hiding the look of sadness that was upon his face not long ago. Quickly, she struck him upside his head and growled "Idiot, that's what you say to me after being gone for a month?" Suddenly, her face softened and she sighed.

"Sakura" The Hokage stated, catching her completely off guard. "Would you like to join us for a bowl of ramen?"

The girl was so surprised by the words, that she couldn't form a complete sentence. "Y-y-yes, sir, I-I mean if that is what you want."

Naruto ordered just a bowl of miso ramen, and Sakura ordered only a small bowl of vegetable ramen. She didn't want to make the Hokage spend too much money, but she was more worried about her teammate.

He usually ordered twenty bowls of this stuff.

After a few moments of silence, an Anbu came into the stand to deliver some news to his leader. "Sir, the Daimyo and his granddaughter have finally arrived within the village."

"Good, you may leave." Quickly he turned back to Naruto and sighed, "It seems I must be going now" Again; he turned towards the cook "put it on my tab."

The Hokage stood up and left silently, before leaping away. Again, moments of silence passed between the two teammates and Sakura knew she had to break the stillness. Thinking back on the last time they met, she really treated him like crap when all he did was greet her. It wasn't fair to Naruto.

"So what have you been up to?" Taking note of the gloves and his usual bright orange coat missing. He really changed since the last time she saw him

"I've been training my ass off; I have all these cool new jutsu, so you don't have to worry about anything!" and so their conversation started and for nearly an hour, Sakura explained what had been going on, and Naruto told her what he had been doing…leaving out certain details. It felt good to Naruto. He was finally able to relieve himself of the stress he had been having, and slowly, the memory of the snake faded into the back of his mind.

It felt really good to be back.

XXXXX

"Ah, Yamamoto, my good friend, how are you?" Sarutobi said, addressing the Daimyo of the Land of Fire with the utmost respect. The man was dressed in the finest robes available, and clinging to his fingers were many jeweled rings. Next to him was a Blonde girl.

"Fine, just fine, now come; are we here for business or entertainment? Will you be sitting with me again?"

"No my old friend, this time I must attend to the Kazekage. He and I have to be together, so other countries will think we are allies."

"Of course, of course. Well, I would like to introduce you to my Granddaughter. Meet Natsuki, my heir. I'm sorry for the way she looks, but she prefers these clothes to her usual dresses."

"A pleasure to meet you Natsuki" The Hokage said respectfully.

"The pleasure is all mine, Hokage-sama." She stated.

The girl was beautiful, with long Blonde locks, to her shoulders; she was dressed in normal shinobi attire, wearing what most Chuunin would wear, with a vest protecting her torso. Her body was slim like most Kunoichi's had, and also strapped to her leg was a normal kunai pouch. Across her back was an elegant katana. Its hilt was white, and the sheath black. With shin and forearm guards, she looked as though she were expecting a fight at any moment.

As he looked upon the sword, he saw the seal at the hilt of it and frowned. That sword belonged to Kushina. The number of seals and abilities that sword had was unknown, even to him.

This young girl was truly an angel of death.

"So who will be competing first?" she said with a curt tone.

The Hokage opened his mouth and said "Uchiha Sasuke will fight Gaara of the Desert, after that, Neji Hyuuga will fight Uzumaki Naruto.

The girl bristled at the name, while the Daimyo's eyes narrowed. After exchanging several words, the announcer finally came up to the arena, and the pair left from the Hokage's presence. Seeing that there was no one left to talk to, he decided to head up to the stands and wait for the Kazekage.

XXXXX

Naruto paced around the stands with Sakura and the rest of the genin. The announcer guy just called for Sasuke, and the bastard wasn't even here yet. What was he doing? He was nervous, even slightly worried. Where the fuck was Sasuke? He had to fight first. The bastard should have been here by now.

"Don't worry Naruto; I'm sure he'll be here." Sakura said, trying to hide her own doubts. Quickly, the crowd was getting impatient, wanting to see their beloved Uchiha fight.

"Will Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji please come down to the arena. The first fight will be postponed." Shaking his head at the blatant favoritism towards his teammate, Naruto growled and walked onto the field. It just wasn't right! All heads immediately turned towards Naruto and Neji, and both took opposite ends of the field. Naruto stared down Neji, remembering the pain that was caused to Hinata.

"I want a clean fight boys…ready…set…go!"

XXXXX

As soon as the fight began, Naruto was the first to attack.

Reaching into his kunai pouch, he grabbed several shuriken and flung them at the Hyuuga.

Skillfully, Neji sidestepped the attack and knocked away one of the shuriken with his kunai. Quickly, he formed a seal and the Byakugan was activated.

Naruto had listened to what the Sandaime said about Hyuuga's fighting style, and Naruto knew to stay away.

Forming his hands into a cross-shaped seal, dozens of clones appeared, and surrounded Neji.

Quickly each clone pulled out one of their blades, and stared down Neji.

"Do you think that these clones will be able to take out me?" Stated the pale-eyed boy.

Suddenly, Neji had decided to go on the offensive.

He ran forward and placed several Jyuuken onto the three clones in front of him. Running forward, he decided to get rid of the rest of the clones and continue to try and find the real one.

Jumping over several clones, he placed the death blows on each of them. Striking them at the base of the skull, cutting of their brains' chakra flow, he continued his genocide on the clones.

Suddenly, four clones emerged from beneath the ground, attempting to catch him off guard.

But the Hyuuga saw this and knew what was to occur.

In one fluid motion, Neji grabbed one of the clones and tossed it at the other two, using its forward momentum to smash into the other two clones, and what he received was a satisfying 'pop'. The other one had its temporal lobe promptly destroyed.

Slowly, the numbers started to wear thin and he arrived towards the back of the stadium, seeing only nine Naruto's left.

The Blondes glanced at each other and nodded. Pulling out several shuriken, they tossed them all at once, and ran behind the flying weapons, ready to intercept Neji if he dodged the attacks.

Neji realized simply that the ones attacking were clones, when he saw a single Naruto stay back and form another seal to summon clones.

Knowing that he could not spend time on the ones attacking him, he ran forward and had to intercept one of the shuriken into his shoulder.

While the cut wasn't deep, it would limit movement of that arm, but he wasn't worried, knowing that he found the real Naruto, and this would be over within several seconds.

Quickly he jumped over the advancing clones and ran forward to real boy and grinned.

"You are in range of my divination." He pulled his hands back and took the proper form. Suddenly, he rushed forward and struck.

"**Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"**

In slow motion, Neji struck the first two Tenketsu, cutting chakra off the boys fingers. "Two strikes!"

"Four Strikes!" His left arm was useless.

"Eight Strikes!" His legs were closed off.

"Six-teen Strikes!" The left side of his body was hopeless.

"Thirty-Two Strikes!" The majority of his torso was sealed away.

"Sixty-four Strikes!" All of the chakra within his body was at a near standstill, barely enough to, keep his alive.

"Do you think you could have truly beaten me?"

Suddenly he realized he was in a trap. The Naruto in front of him just had too little chakra to begin with.

The boy in front of him disappeared, and the ones he had turned his back on closed in on him.

Turning behind himself, he saw the several clones raise their blades high into the air, before they brought it down in a stabbing motion.

There was only one way to get out of this.

"**Hakkeshou Kaiten"** He shouted, and began to rapidly spin about, knocking away the clones that attacked him, and the real Naruto.

Naruto knew the attack was a perfect defense, but there was always a way to beat a jutsu.

He formed another batch of clones during the jutsu the Hyuuga was performing, and quickly slid into the crowd of clones.

It was time to think of a combat strategy.

Slowly the spinning stopped and there stood the cocky son-of-a-bitch. While he seemed to be tired from the jutsu, it seemed that he had enough fight in him.

Good.

"Stop hiding and fight me you coward. This is how you wish to prove to me that I am wrong about fate?" Stated the boy mockingly, taking note of the many Naruto clones.

Quickly, several clones attacked, but all of them were put down immediately.

"Are you afraid of me Uzumaki? Afraid I shall do to you what I did to Hinata?"

Naruto had kept himself calm and composed. He knew this was a tactic into getting him to show himself. Once that happened, the fight would be over.

That was when Naruto had a plan.

Neji was stronger, faster, and probably smarter.

But the guy did not have as much chakra as Naruto.

Quickly, he dispersed the clones, and in a large puff of smoke stood the real Naruto, finishing his set of seals.

"**Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu" **The Jinchuuriki bellowed, and a massive fireball emerged from his mouth.

Of course, the Hyuuga had seen such an attack coming and quickly spun into a blue sphere of chakra.

"**Hakkeshou Kaiten" **Neji said, as he spun into an impenetrable ball of chakra.

Quickly, he brought forth another batch of clones, this time; these ones had slight more chakra than normal.

Each clone quickly formed a large circle around the sphere of chakra, and began forming seals for another fireball.

"**Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu" **Said the clone, and another fireball raced towards Neji.

"**Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu" **Stated another, as it followed in suit of the second ball.

At that moment, Neji realized that he was caught, and only two decisions were given to him.

He could continue to spin, and block the fire attacks. However, doing so would make him run out of chakra within a dozen seconds, or release the jutsu, and get burned.

Of course, he chose the second choice.

When he let loose the barrier, a fireball was already headed into his direction, and he tried to move to the left, trying to dodge it as best as he could.

Neji put his arms in front to help block the attack, but soon wished he hadn't.

When the fireball hit the ground next to him, he felt his skin on his arms and face get Second-degree burns.

The Hyuuga shouted in pain as all of the exposed skin on his body burned, and he quickly fell to the floor.

"So what was that about me being weak you bastard?" Naruto said as he came out of a group of clones.

Neji was in horrible pain. He couldn't move his arms, legs, or even his face, so that he could scowl at Naruto.

The skin he had was bright red, and an angry look settled into his eyes.

"When you believe in fate, you only weaken yourself. Don't keep it up Neji, or next time, you might be killed by enemy Nin."

"What do you know? You are just an orphan! You have no idea what it feels like to lose a loved one!" Neji screamed at the boy.

"Yeah, but at least I keep myself moving. I don't blame others for what happens to me, or take the cowards way out, and put my faith in fate." Naruto said sadly.

Genma, the proctor ran up to Neji and examined the boy intensely, before looking over to Naruto.

Slowly Naruto began to walk away and he was declared winner.

What a great way to start the exams…

XXXXX

Up in the stands, several people watched with their breath held. Every time Naruto seemed to have been caught, he always pulled through.

And not one finger was laid upon the boy.

Sakura had her fingers within her mouth the entire match, biting her nails anxiously.

Chouji ate his food faster than usual, making the boy run to the bathroom, and missing most of the fight.

Ino had the same reaction as Sakura, frightened of the outcome of the battle.

Kiba was rooting for Naruto the whole time, and Shino…was silent.

Hinata kept her gaze on Naruto the whole fight, and felt slightly happy that the Jinchuuriki was fighting for her.

And Shikamaru just watched bored, knowing of the conclusion the moment Neji had been caught.

Unknowingly to them, a pair of blue eyes had also been watching the fight, taking note of every action, detail, and attack that Naruto had been making.

XXXXX

Naruto walked up to the stands and decided to meet up with the Hokage.

Fortunately for him, it seemed that the Hokage had come down to greet him personally.

"Naruto that fight was genius. Simply incredible how you managed to reverse his jutsu on him, and win a battle of attrition."

"Thanks Sen-I mean Old man." He said, catching himself, after all, he didn't anyone to know that he was taught by the third.

"Well, I must be leaving; the next match will start in five minutes, good luck Naruto, I hope you win."

"Goodbye Old man." Stated the young Blonde.

And so he turned around, to return to his friends.

Naruto never knew that would be the last time he would see the Sandaime, and the last words he would ever say to him too.

XXXXX

The battle was quite interesting.

Shikamaru simply beat his opponent by using clever strategies and proper patience.

The sand Kunoichi was stronger; there was no doubt about that. But Shikamaru had planned ahead, and the fight was decided the moment the plan was put into action.

By pushing the Temari towards the holes Naruto had made the previous fight, to try and catch Neji off guard, he used them to his advantage.

Hell, he even used his jacket to create a shadow.

But when things seemed to be over and Pineapple head had the girl caught, he seemed to give up, and give a stupid reason.

This enraged the crowd, and they demanded for their precious Uchiha, hoping that entertainment could be gained from him. What a pain in the ass.

Temari stood there dumbfounded, and yet slightly angry too. He had just given up the match when he had won. Was he trying to mock her?

Quickly, the boy ran back to the stands and was congratulated plenty by his teammates, and was asked why he didn't try to win the fight.

"Too troublesome…" was all that he said, and it was left at that.

"Next match is between Aburame Shino and Kankuro of the-"

"Hey proctor, I give up." declared Kankuro.

Immediately, everyone's head turned to the boy with the painted face, and he began to sweat.

"Hey, I don't want to fight someone who I know I'll lose to."

The examiner glanced around before sighing, "The winner of the match is Aburame Shino."

The bug user glanced at the puppet user before returning his attention to the next fight.

The fight involving Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Desert.

XXXXX

Once again, Naruto was worried. He knew that Sasuke wouldn't get another chance if he didn't show.

Gaara came down when his named was called, and calmly waited for Sasuke to show up, however, Naruto could tell that the boy was ready to kill everyone and anyone.

After nearly five minutes of waiting, the proctor had decided enough was enough.

"Winner by default is-"

Genma caught himself as he felt a slight spike in chakra. Quickly, he glanced to the spot where he felt it and saw person who the crowd was drooling over.

Standing before the crowd and a psychopathic red-head, was the one and only Sasuke.

And with him stood Kakashi as well.

'Showoff' Naruto mentally thought, and soon the battle commenced.

XXXXX

Too many, times had Naruto's life been in danger. So many times in fact, that he couldn't keep count anymore. But he would remember this time, as people around him fell asleep.

As soon as Gaara went into a large sphere of sand, Sasuke formed a strange lightning jutsu, stabbed the sphere, and all hell broke loose. Enemy ninja began pouring from every direction, and only the intelligent and quick were able to cast off the jutsu.

Naruto continued to glance around, and slowly felt his eyes begin to close. He realized that it took a little while longer to affect him. Suddenly, a hand grabbed him by his collar, and punched him hard across the face.

That woke him up.

Looking around, he saw Shikamaru standing there holding a kunai. "Come on Naruto, people are dying. This is no time to fall asleep." The Jinchuuriki pulled out his own blade and spotted an enemy sound Ninja coming at them both.

Realization that another life was to be taken came to his mind. 'I must protect everyone' He shouted mentally, and ran forward to meet the attacker. Just as Naruto was only a few feet away, the sound Shinobi had several kunai embed themselves into his throat.

"Naruto go after Sasuke!"

He turned around and saw Kakashi reaching over the body, and pulling out the weapons to use again. "Take whoever you can find and retrieve him; he went after Gaara and the two siblings."

Kakashi had his single eye widen in surprise when a large blade emerged from his chest, and Naruto was about to shout in terror. The copy-ninja 'poofed' and a log appeared, accompanying it, an explosive tag.

Naruto felt a hand pull him away from the explosion, and watched as the man was blown to bits, covering the battlefield with his blood and flesh. Looking behind him stood his teacher, perfectly fine. The man was truly one of the most powerful ninja in the village.

"Naruto, grab Sakura and Shikamaru with you and go get your teammate, they are the only ones available." Dodging another volley of attacks he turned towards Gai.

"GAI! I need a hole outta here NOW!"

"Aha! It seems as though my rival needs my help."

Gai ran towards where they were and caved in an enemy ninja's chest with his fist, before crashing into the wall and breaking it apart. Kakashi cut his forearm and used the blood to summon a small dog. It had a small cloth over his neck, and a Konoha headband. The dog looked upon Kakashi, urgency in the dogs eyes.

"Listen we gotta talk Kakashi, three days ago, someone has signed the snake contr-"

"We'll talk later Pakkun, for now, I want you to find Sasuke, here use this" Kakashi pulled out a small strip of cloth for him to sniff. He had one for each of his students, ensuring that he could always track them down. Each piece of fabric contained his student's sweat.

"Go my youthful ones, and rescue your ally! I shall stay behind and protect your teacher!" said Gai as he punched a random Sound ninja in the face. "Let your Flames of Youth grow to protect your ally!"

The makeshift team only sweated at those words, and leaped through, not wanting to be around the weirdo for another second.

XXXXX

Sakura had a worried look on her face as she ran with both the boys, knowing that Sasuke was in trouble, and if he was in trouble, then what hope did the rest of them have against his enemy?

"We're being followed." Was the first thing she had heard in nearly ten minutes. She glanced at the shadow user and dog, before concentrating, and feeling several chakra signatures following them. Once again, she felt worse when she realized just how bad of a Ninja she was. They stopped for a moment to think up a plan. Pakkun sniffed the air and glanced around. "There are eight of them following us."

"You guys keep going; I'll stay behind and hold them off for as long as I can." Said Shikamaru.

"But you can get killed! This isn't a game, these guys are Chuunin, you can-no, you will get killed!" Sakura said terrified.

"I'll stay too." Naruto said "You'll be killed in seconds. With the both of us we can stop them long enough for Sakura to help Sasuke."

"But Naruto…do you think I can help him. I mean-I'm not as good as most…"

"Shut up Sakura! Just go and save Sasuke! You are a Ninja, so you can handle anything!" Stated the Jinchuuriki angrily "Don't doubt yourself, just go!"

The pink-haired Kunoichi was shocked at the way her teammate spoke to her. He never spoke to her in such a tone before, and it was very frightening. Looking forward, she charged chakra to her feet and growled. "I'll get you back later Naruto." And she ran off into the woods. Smirking, Naruto just waved her off. "So what's the plan Lazy ass?" asked Naruto.

Ignoring the comment, he already had a plan in his head forming. "As the dog said, we have eight following us. Knowing common Ninja tactics, when they meet us, one or two of them will stay behind, and watch out for any traps. We have four minutes to prepare."

"Ok, so how are we going to do this?"

"Well, first…"

XXXXX

The sound ninja's looked around the clearing, while staring down at a boy.

'Idiots' Shikamaru thought, as he gazed upon the seven Ninja standing in a group together. They had just disarmed all of the traps within the clearing, ranging from trip wires, explosive tags, and more they had created.

Shikamaru was hiding in the shadows, as the other Shinobi began to advance on the clone Naruto had created of him. They were almost laughable, when they had thought they had gotten rid of all of the traps. His doppelganger in the clearing was looking scared and holding its blade in front of itself, trying to act afraid.

These people were Chuunin at best. In a hand to hand fight, these guys would win, however, with just using strategy and proper planning, they had no chance. Seeing the moment when their guard was down, they were all caught by the Kagemane. Not a single one of them expected to be up against a Nara.

To say they were shocked would be an understatement. Shikamaru calmly walked out of his hiding place, taking note of how the other copied him. "What have you done to us you bastard?" Said one of them, trying as hard as he could to break the technique, and seeing the boy in front of them burst into smoke.

"Simple, I have taken control of your bodies, and now…" Shikamaru pulled out one of his shuriken and the Shinobi copied his actions. Unfortunately for all of them, they did not carry their weapons on their leg. Casually tossing it at the closest man, Shikamaru watched bored as the blade he threw was knocked away by another.

'Got you.' He thought. Realizing that once again, he forced his opponents move like he did often in Shogi. Suddenly, from where the blade was thrown, the hidden Ninja fell to the ground, knocked out by an orange wearing Ninja.

"You guys may have numbers, but you got careless, and stupid." Said Shikamaru. "You didn't factor in the fact that another person could have been here, or because we were children, we didn't know how to fight.."

"Yeah, that's right!" said Naruto. "You can't beat Ninja of the Hidd-"

Immediately, everything in the vicinity turned in the direction where Gaara was. Feeling a massive amount of rage and chakra. Never before had any of the children felt such a thing. "Naruto! Get over there now!" panted the shadow-user. "You can feel that chakra! You have to go and save your teammates NOW!"

"What about you? What will you do when you run out of chakra?"

"I don't wanna think about that, it's too troublesome." Shikamaru tried to smirk, but couldn't bring himself to do it, knowing of his soon-to-be death.

He didn't want his friend to die. He didn't want his friend to die. Naruto wouldn't be able to live with himself if that ever happened. There was a law of the jungle that he knew. Kill, or be killed. No matter what would happen, when they killed Shikamaru, they would come after him. He was given an ultimatum. Kill these men, or be killed.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** Quickly, eight clones appeared and looked to Naruto.

"Shikamaru…when you run low on chakra…you know what to do." The Nara looked upon the clones and realized just what he was implying.

"Are you sure you want to Naruto? Are you ready?" Suddenly, another spike of chakra erupted, filling the area with malice and fury. "I have to go." Naruto said, ignoring the question, "Tell them when to do…it." Each clone pulled out its own blade, and stood behind the enemy, placing their weapon against his victim's throat.

"Naruto…go, save them."

XXXXX

'What the fuck?' Thought Naruto. When he arrived on the scene, the area was simply a warzone. Apparently, Sasuke and Sakura had managed to do some damage. Shuriken and kunai were embedded into the trees. Also, lingering in the air was the smell of burning wood, possibly from the use of explosive tags.

Continuing to run through the forest, he found both of his friends a few feet away from a strange looking monster. The being was made up of sand, and its eyes had an insane look in them. Sakura was unconscious, and Sasuke seemed exhausted, yet Pakkun was nowhere to be seen. Oh boy, Naruto was pissed off.

"GAARA!" Naruto shouted in anger, drawing attention from both of the combatants. Gaara looked over bored, before his grin widened; it was another person to kill, and this time, one that would hopefully be more fun.

XXXXX

8.5k Words.

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	3. Chapter 3

XXXXX

'Shit'

'Oh Shit'

"SHIT!"

Naruto dodged another volley of sand shuriken, and suddenly, another wave of sand attempted to cover him, hoping to crush him to bits. No matter how hard Naruto tried, there was just nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no way to attack. Suddenly, another hand of sand reached out, attempting to grab him.

"Why do you keep running Uzumaki? Are you afraid of me?" Another wave of sand began to move over the Blonde, attempting to crush him, yet, he dodged once again. "Come on Uzumaki, if you won't fight me, how about I go for your friends!"

Once again, more shuriken were released, however, not at him. It was aimed at his two teammates. Forming a batch of clones, he knew he needed to protect his important ones. Naruto rushed forward, to intercept them, and took three blades into his back, while the clones he had did the rest.

Slowly, the shuriken in his back converted back into sand, and he noticed the area he was hit was only a flesh wound, thanks to his jacket taking most of the damage. "Naruto!" Sakura screamed, however, she was just ignored, there were other important things.

"I'll kick your ass, you bastard!"

He needed a plan to win; some way to turn that defense against Gaara, like he did to Neji. He knew that Gaara's body was covered in sand. The sand was used for defense and offense, and had a range of twenty meters. While Naruto was in his thoughts, he temporarily lost track of the red head.

A fatal mistake.

Gaara came up from behind, and slammed his sand-arm into Naruto's gut, sending him flying, or at least would have, if his foot wasn't being held onto by sand. He was pulled back to the red-head and was struck in his face.

'Ow' Thought Naruto.

While in the air, one of the hidden shadow clones he had, emerged, holding a kunai with an explosive tag on it.

The clone ran forward, noting how easy it was to get close to the enemy.

Only a few feet away, the clone had decided where to strike, noting that there was less sand in the area, and the sand was possibly looser, you wouldn't want to restrict movement there. The clone ran forward, hoping that he could make it. It did.

The clone brought the kunai down, and stabbed into the joint on the neck, and the clone was promptly destroyed by a spike of sand emerging from Gaara's back.

Naruto felt the sand loosen up on his foot, and somehow, he knew of the plan to blow the shit out of Gaara. It was time to leave. Concentrating as much chakra as he could, he ripped his leg out of the sand and jumped away.

He could feel the tag go off…and hear it too.

The Blonde looked behind himself and saw a half destroyed Gaara, with the area around him damaged too. The neck and head of Gaara were completely exposed to the open, thanks to the force of the tag.

This was his chance.

Naruto ran forward and saw the sand begin to form again, but it wasn't fast enough. The boy delivered a strong round-house kick to his enemy's head, and the amount of force made him fly several feet. An eerie silence began to cover the forest, and Naruto began to regret what he had done.

Gaara placed his fingers on his mouth and felt the strange tasting substance. He looked at it, before realizing what it was.

"My blood…my blood…MY BLOOD!" Gaara screamed in terror as he began to form seals and called forth the name. "**Forced Sleep Jutsu!"**

Gaara slumped to the ground, and Naruto just had to wonder 'What the Fuck is going on?' Immediately, sand came from everywhere and shot into the air. Slowly, it began to form into a large being. Impossibly large. Larger than anything he had ever seen before.

As the sand formed, it had a familiar shape. Somewhat like the creature Naruto had been fighting only a few seconds ago.

'Fuck.'

XXXXX

Sasuke and Sakura, gazed at how well Naruto was holding off such a beast. Clones died by the hundreds, but when he had been caught, he somehow managed to break the sand that enclosed his foot.

He even used his body to protect them. But when they stared at the beast forming in front of them, they knew there was no way to win.

"Get out of here guys! I have this under control." Naruto said, bringing them out of their thoughts.

"You'll die Naruto, come on with us, maybe we can get away." Said Sakura.

"Come on idiot, if I couldn't handle this, you're no better." commented a certain stuck-up Uchiha. Naruto just ignored him, and looked up at the giant monster. He knew that to beat a creature like this, he would have to use his new jutsu's to win. Biting his thumb, he slowly formed the set of seals to summon.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**"

It was time to end this fight. In a large puff of smoke, the snake named Koshi appeared.

XXXXX

Its mighty looking form glanced around before looking up at the newly formed Shukaku, who dwarfed it by nearly a hundred feet. **"The firssst time I get summoned for battle, and thisss is my firssst enemy?"** Stated the Snake. **"To think that I could be killing your village at the moment."**

"Uhh, yea, my bad…" Not knowing what the snake meant.

**"Why did I bother to help you…"** Growled Koshi. The snake rushed forward and swallowed Naruto up, while dodging a massive wave of sand.

"NARUTO!" Screamed Sakura…again.

"**Why are you running away? I thought you wanted to kick my ass!" **mocked the Shukaku.

Within the mouth of the snake, Naruto felt as though he was going to be eaten. Deep within the throat, he heard the snake talk to him. **"What isss the plan boy?"** Said Koshi. Naruto realized that the snake was being an ally, and tried to think up a plan.

"When Gaara fell asleep…all of this happened. If we can wake him up, maybe this will all be gone."

"We had better hope so for both our sakessss."

"Just get me close enough to the bastard, and I'll take him out."

"We shall see."

Immediately, the Snake was on the move, twisting its body in ways unimaginable.

"**Fuuton: Renkuudan!" **hitting itself in the stomach, a ball of compressed air shot at the snake, slicing the snake in half.

"**To think one as weak as you could fight me!"** However, its cheering was cut short when the corpse collapsed, showing that it was nothing but skin.

Unexpectedly, from beneath the ground, the snake emerged and bit the demon on the leg.

The area turned black, and chunks of the sand fell off, due to a strange poison the snake held.

The serpent knew its one goal was to the top of the creatures' head.

A massive spike of sand shot out, barely about to impale the snake, when it moved its head to the side. Another spike shot out, as did another. Each one with a point sharp enough to pierce the hardest metal.

Yet, every time the sharp pillar of sand would emerge, the snake somehow knew, and got out of the way.

And it did.

After years of evolution, the beasts had the ability to feel vibrations in the ground, and know just when and where their enemies always were. Feeling the sand shift beneath it, it could always feel when the attack was to come.

"**Get off of me weakling!" **Said the sand-demon in anger. Within seconds of dodging and moving up, the summon was at the head of the sand demon, looking at the sleeping Gaara.

**"GO!"**

Opening its maw, Naruto jumped out, his fist flaming. Suddenly as Naruto went through the air, another spear of sand went traveling to his head, and there was no way to dodge it.

The Hebi had felt the attack and raced forward, biting down on the pike, and injecting a black poison around the area.

Abruptly, the sand fell, its power gone.

"Wake the FUCK UP!"

Having no barriers to stop him, he continued to head to the red-head…and he slammed his blazing fist against Gaara's skull, waking the boy.

But Naruto forgot what his jutsu could do.

As though the sand demon was made of gasoline, its entire being began to be set ablaze. The sand had chakra in it, and he remembered what the Sandaime had told him about this jutsu.

"Get in!"

Naruto turned toward the voice, and found himself once again devoured by the snake. Not a very pleasant thing to happen to someone. He could hear the last words erupting from the beast and bit his lip, hoping that he won.

"**Damn You Child…"** Said the Shukaku weakly, and in that moment, the entire sand creature fell to the ground, and with it, Gaara.

Seeing the form of the boy on the ground the snake moved in, before setting Naruto down in front of a terribly burned child. Gaara's face was blistered and pink, the clothes covering his torso was gone, showing blackened areas from the burns. Where Naruto had punched him, the side of his head was black, and flaking. But the burns would heal soon, thanks to the demon within him.

Koshi looked on at what was to occur, hoping to see the boy killed.

"D-d-don't come closer!" Gaara said, with fright in his eyes. No matter how hard he tried, he could not infuse any sand he had with chakra; all of his chakra was trying to heal his burns.

"**Hahahah, listen to him beg Naruto, truly it is one of the most glorious asssspects of humans."**

Ignoring his summon, he lifted his head, making eye contact with the enemy. "We're so much alike…" Naruto said, catching Gaara off guard. "Deep down, you and I are still children, wanting someone to help us…" Naruto pulled out one of his last Kunai, and slowly began to walk to the sand-user.

"Get away from him!" A large gust of wind shot up and nearly hit Naruto, and as the dust settled, Temari stood over her brother. "You won! Please, spare his life!" Said the girl. Deep down, she was terrified of Naruto. There was no one in the whole village that could harm Gaara, his sand protecting every square inch of his body. Yet somehow, this boy had done so, and now her younger brother was to be killed.

"Please, spare him and take me!"

Koshi quickly moved forward, faster than the girl could realize and coiled his powerful body around her. She opened her mouth in shock to scream, only for the snake to force all the air out of her.

"**Do not speak anymore female human. This is between Naruto and his prey."**

Naruto began to walk forward, his blade still in his hand. It would be so easy to kill him, so many areas to attack. His neck was unprotected, letting Naruto cut the jugular easily. Maybe he could strike the heart. Get him in the kidneys? Naruto was only a few feet away, before he put his weapon away. He could not kill him…Naruto didn't have the heart.

Gaara's body was exposed to the open, burned away by the heat of Naruto's jutsu. The Blonde pulled off his coat and covered the other. Trying to cover whatever was left his pants so the Redhead could be a little decent.

"Here, use this." The orange coloring did not look good on the boy. Naruto glanced at the all black tee-shirt and realized just how open he felt.

"Thank…y…" Said the red-head, unable to finish his words, due to the massive pain he felt.

"Do you want to be friends?" Quickly, he locked eyes with the one-tailed demon container.

Friends. That was what had been said. "Friends" He said, trying the word out. For years, he had tried to find someone to share that kind of relationship with, yet no one would dare walk within three yards. "Yes…" Pain once again ripped through his body.

Quickly, Naruto leapt back into the trees, to get away. In three minutes, Kankuro would come and help carry Gaara away to the sand border. They had escaped with their lives.

Thanks to a certain Blonde haired boy, and his great compassion.

XXXXX

They both traveled together, side by side. The snake had its head low to the ground, to chat with the Shinobi. **"You are weak boy."** Stated Koshi, apparently upset at not seeing the death of a Jinchuuriki.

"I couldn't kill him…him and I…we're the same." He said angrily.

The snake glanced at Naruto before smirking inside, **"Most ninja who show mercy are usually the firssst to die."** said the Hebi, eyes showing wisdom.

"Heheh, I guess I don't have long to live then?"

Koshi chuckled at the boys words before looking toward him **"It ssseems ssso. Go and help your teammatesss, I feel I have done enough work today. Next time you are to sssummon me, I expect another human to be offered."** And in a 'poof' of smoke, the snake left, with one thought in its head.

'This boy will be greater than any other.'

XXXXX

Naruto arrived to the small area where his two friends were patching themselves up.

"Naruto, I thought you had died!" She ran up and gave a hug to him, surprising the crap out of him, until she punched him hard against his head. "That's what you get for talking to me like that, and ignoring me."

"Fight me Naruto…" Sasuke stated coldly. Inside he was seething, upset that the dead-last of their class could defeat someone such as this. He was an Uchiha, he was more superior. To be second to a person like Naruto made his blood boil.

"Come on Sasuke, I'm tired. I want to go t-" Both of his teammates looked at him when he became quiet, and wondered why.

Naruto vomited in front of them, and passed out.

XXXXX

"-uto"

What?

"-aruto"

He felt as though he were floating. He wanted to forget, but the more he tried, the more it came back…the images flashing in his mind.

"Naruto!"

Suddenly he opened his eyes, and looked around, seeing the white walls of what could only be the hospital. The bed was comfortable, and the silence was peaceful. "Naruto, how are you feeling?" He slowly opened his eyes and saw his first teacher ever.

"Iruka-sensei" Tears began to form in the corners of his eyes, and he rushed the man, embracing him in a hug. To say Iruka was shocked would be an understatement. He was surprised that Naruto was crying. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around the boy and kissed him on the head.

"What happened?"

XXXXX

"We would like you to be the next Hokage."

Jiraiya glanced at them and chuckled. "I can't be Hokage. I'm not the right kind of person, plus, who else will make my books?"

Homura looked at the Sannin. "We are not asking you to do this. The village is."

"Well, I'm not going to do this. Sorry, you'll just have to find someone else."

"And who do you propose? Who else in this village is qualified to handle such a position? Who can bring the glory that Kage's before us have?"

"You're in a pickle, 'cause I don't know anyone to match what you're looking for. Maybe I could find Tsunade, but trust me. It's going to be a pain in the ass."

"As long as we get a new leader soon, we are content."

Jiraiya looked at the moon, calculating the time. "How soon do you want me to leave?"

"As soon as possible." Said the elderly female.

The toad-summoner glanced around the city, noting that people were already repairing it, even this late at night. "When I leave, I'm going to take Nar-"

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that." Said Koharu. "We know of what training has been given to the boy." Her words dark and angry.

"I'm going to find this place a new leader and you won't let me take a genin with me?"

Homura narrowed his eyes and growled. "Sarutobi trained him for a whole month, and he managed to defeat a Hyuuga."

"Not only that, but we have a report of eight confirmed kills and the boy managed to defeat Suna's Jinchuuriki." Replied the other. "We also know of the pact he has made to the Snake clan."

Jiraiya's jaw dropped at those words. Had the boy really progressed so far?

"We feel that he must be monitored, to ensure the safety of our village due to how snakes…influence others, and you teaching him jutsu may cause him to be more powerful than we can control."

The youngest of the three was quiet. Their logic was sound, and they were caring for the being of the village. Even if they did have some prejudice against Naruto, he knew they were right.

"We would, however, like you to take the most promising of the Ninja we have." Homura said. "Uchiha Sasuke will accompany you, and you will train him."

"What the FUCK makes you think I will do that!" Shouted Jiraiya. "From the reports I have read on him, the kid is a god-damn nut, he only lives to kill his brother."

"This is the word of the council, and as such, we have command and authority over you." Koharu said angrily. "We came to ask you, but if you won't cooperate, we WILL force you."

"What can you all do about it? Do you think you can fight me?" He said cockily.

"As council members, we have authority over everything. We can bring up Naruto in the next meeting."

"Did you know that several of the most prominent clans in our village have petitioned to get the boy in chains for certain crimes? Whether evidence exists or not regarding him, it can be found." Said the female. "We do not truly care about the child, we only care about what he binds to his body."

"Do what we wish and we shall make it worth your while, especially concerning Naruto." Silence began to fill the air, and Jiraiya said only one thing.

"In three days, bring him to the east gate."

XXXXX

Naruto could feel sickness bubbling into his abdomen, when another flash of death came across his eyes.

The third Hokage was buried yesterday, and was possibly the saddest day in his life. Every time he thought about the old man, who helped Naruto get stronger, brought tears to his eyes, and the nine men he had killed all lingered within his mind. Each one had a look of fear and helplessness as they were killed. And the choking noises they had made, when their necks were cut. That sound would never leave his mind.

Feeling to vomit again, he lifted his head and swallowed his saliva. He wouldn't look good vomiting everywhere in front of his superiors.

It was time to get ready for his promotion. Opening the doors to the basement of the Hokage tower, he traveled for two minutes going through corridors and arrived to the council meeting chambers.

He was waiting outside the door, when he spotted Shikamaru coming towards him. Putting on his best smile, he traveled towards the Nara. "What's up lazy ass? Don't tell me you got promoted too?"

Shikamaru looked at him before walking to him. "I'm sorry Naruto."

"About what?" He acted like he didn't know.

"Don't pull that shit on me! You can trick everyone else into thinking you're happy, but that won't work on me!" Shikamaru was angry, but not at himself.

"I researched the Shadow Clones you use, and I know that all the memories come back to you." Forget it, Shikamaru was beyond pissed. Naruto however was ashamed, feeling horrible that he had killed and that Shikamaru was blaming him.

"Why aren't you angry at me Naruto?" The question threw him for a loop.

"If I had held the jutsu for just a few more seconds…this wouldn't have had to happen. Asuma-sensei had come right after they were killed. If I could have just tried for a little longer, this would have never happened, and we wouldn't have had to ki-"

"Shut up!" Now Naruto was the one pissed off. Shikamaru was simply stunned. "We did what we had to do. We can't know the future, and I did what I thought was right. How were we supposed to know if Asuma was coming?"

"Now let's get our promotions." Naruto said changing his demeanor to a happy one, although his insides began to squirm. Walking into the front door, they arrived to a large circular arena, where nearly thirty people sat, surrounding the boys.

"State your names." Said one of the people in the stands.

"Uzumaki Naruto"

"Nara Shikamaru"

"Do you accept the responsibilities of being a Chuunin for the Hidden Leaf Village?"

"I do" They both said simultaneously.

"Then accept these vests and the title of Chuunin. Congratulations."

Naruto placed the vest over his black shirt and looked down. He didn't feel as exposed as usual, ever since he had given his jacket to Gaara. Although his arms were open, he had never felt safer.

Realizing he was closer to his dreams, he knew one thing. He would be Hokage and avenge him. Naruto made a promise on that. Both looked at each other and nodded in approval over each other's uniform. Inside the both of them were of let down. They expected a party in their honor. Leaving the chambers, the duo had never been so disappointed in their lives.

"Come with me Naruto, I told my teammates of my promotion. We're gonna go eat out. You should come join."

"Thanks man, I'm hungry as hell." And he forgot all about what had occurred only days before.

If only for a while.

XXXXX

Naruto sighed contently before flexing his back, trying to break in his new green jacket. Naruto knew that with this vest on, he would be safer.

Both he and Shikamaru were walking towards the large restaurant that Team 10 usually ate at. Their trip together was quiet, both not wanting to think of what happened only a few days ago. "Hey Shikamaru…please…don't say anything."

The Nara was silent and they both walked through the curtains, to enter the place. Business seemed to be slow, possibly due to the fact that everyone else was busy fixing their homes. As they walked in Naruto spotted Ino, and across was them were Asuma-sensei and Chouji.

The jinchuuriki was currently fiddling around with one of the scroll pouches on his vest, when he walked up to the table. All of the genin were shocked to see the both of them wearing Chuunin flack-jackets.

"So this is why we are here! Asuma-sensei told us that we were going to celebrate!" Shouted Ino excitedly. "How did you get promoted too?"

Naruto grinned and replied "Yeah, I couldn't believe his lazy ass got promoted."

"I was talking about you Naruto." Said Ino, "Well, besides that, is Sasuke a Chuunin?"

"No, he wasn't with us." Said the Shadow-user, apparently bored already, "Sensei, I brought Naruto along to join us, hopefully it's not too troublesome?" The whole time they were talking, Asuma was examining the two boys, taking note of how Naruto was playing with his vest, and Shikamaru had a tense stance. He had arrived moments after the boys killed those men, and had to take a traumatized Shikamaru into his arms, the kid crying and sobbing into his arms.

A sensei should never have to see his students act like that.

"Come over here and have a seat, I ordered us some appetizers. You are Kakashi's student right?" He already knew just who Naruto was, but wanted to break the ice. "I saw how you whipped that Hyuuga's ass."

"Yeah Naruto, that was amazing! You were almost as good as Sasuke-kun." Ino exclaimed, earning a snort from Chouji. The Blonde girl sent a dark glare at him, and immediately he shut up. The large boy straightened his back before turning to his best friend. "So what was it like when they promoted you?"

"Knowing the way it has always been, you guys were probably disappointed." Said the Jounin, as he remembered when he was promoted. "It was a big let down to me, but when I went home…my father had a big party already planned for me, and I got my first kiss." He winked at both of the boys and grinned, trying to hide the emotions he felt at the old memory.

Asuma reached for the pack of cigarettes in his vest, and pulled one out. He got up and began to walk to the entrance.

"I'm gonna go take a break." He called over his shoulder. "Shikamaru, Naruto, come with me." Both of the boys looked towards each other, and left to follow the Jounin. They already knew it had something to do with what had happened.

Arriving outside, they saw Asuma take on a serious demeanor, and he pointed up. Lighting a cigarette, he jumped to the roof of the building, and the two Chuunin followed suit.

The sun brightly glared over them, casting its light over everything in the village. From there they could see the city.

"I'm only going to tell you this once, so listen up. This is what my father told me when I had scored my first kill." Asuma needed to get these boys over this slump. If it wasn't fixed soon, it could lead to serious psychological problems.

"When my dad was younger, and he had to take the life of someone, it was the first Hokage who had imparted these words to him. And as I grew, he told me these words too.

Their silence told him that he had their attention.

"Look around this village, and tell me what you see."

For a minute, both of the boys looked out around the village.

Konoha seemed to be alive. Some people building their homes, some people going to a store to buy some fixings for dinner, some of them were talking and laughing, as though the invasion was just a bad dream. Some just live as though nothing happened.

Naruto saw a small girl being carried by what seemed to be her father. She was laughing and giggling as she pulled his ears in strange ways

Shikamaru saw an old couple walking, both of them holding hands and smiling as they looked at the younger people rebuilding the area.

"As a ninja, it's our duty to protect this." He held his hand out towards the village. "When we go and take the lives of others, who do you think you do it for? We kill not only to survive, but also to protect them. Every time you kill an enemy, just think of what they could have done to not only you, but your friends, loved ones, allies, and the people of this village. We put our lives on the line to protect everyone."

He took a deep drag of his cigarette and looked at the two boys.

"The both of you managed to kill eight men, all of them were Chuunin. You both deserve that promotion."

"But if I just had a little more cha-"

"QUIET!" Asuma shouted. "If I did or didn't come, do you think that it would have made a difference? If you and Naruto didn't get rid of those men, what do you think would have happened? You could have been killed!"

Slowly, Asuma began to calm down. "Naruto, why did you kill those men?"

The Demon Container was quiet the whole conversation, and the question was answered simply. "I didn't want Shikamaru or anyone else to get hurt. When he told me he could hold them for only a couple minutes, I knew that they would kill him, and come after me and everyone else…"

"Exactly, you fought to protect those who were precious to you. The both of you are alive because you both worked together to not only preserve each other's life, but your teammates as well. Killing is a natural part of life.

Naruto raised his head and felt a tear falling down his left cheek. "Why does it have to be so hard?" The boy was trying hard not to cry.

"Because we're human, now stop crying. Hokage's don't cry."

Naruto wiped away the tear and redirected his gaze to the village. "I'll protect everyone." He quickly flexed his gloved hands and stretched his back before turning to them again.

"I promise"

Shikamaru sighed before looking at them again. "Yeah, same here"

Asuma placed his hands on both of the boy's shoulders and smirked at them. "You two will be fine. Now let's go eat."

Jumping down from the roof, Naruto could feel all the pain, sadness, and anger leave him, and in its place was determination. 'For you Sensei'

XXXXX

After they had eaten, and talked for an hour, Naruto decided to try and find his team, and decided to begin at his training area. Within several minutes, he arrived at his training area, only a mile away from the village. Looking around, he spotted his sensei sitting in front of the Ninja memorial, where the names of deceased ninja were inscribed in stone.

Kakashi was quiet as always, gazing upon the stone, with a look of remembrance. "Hey Naruto, I sensed you coming. What do you need?"

"Oh, I was just trying to find Sasuke and Sakura. Have you seen them lately Kakashi-sensei?"

The man turned around and was genuinely surprised to see Naruto wearing a Chuunin vest. "When did you get promoted Naruto? And why wasn't I told about it." Said the Jounin, angry that he didn't know.

"Huh? I don't know, but they just gave me the promotion because of 'Impressive combat abilities' and some other crap." He said, trying to drop the subject. "So, have you seen the two of them Kakashi-sensei?"

"No Naruto, I haven't seen them, but please tell me, what combat abilities are you talking about?"

Naruto's face turned sad, and he bit his lip while playing with his scroll pouch again. "Shikamaru and I…had to kill some guys during the invasion, and the village council thought that we deserved a promotion."

Kakashi was surprised, mainly because Naruto said he killed more than one person. He knew the boy didn't want to talk about it anymore and decided to drop the subject. Still, he was upset. Why was he not told of this? Why didn't Naruto tell him about it? Why?

"Well, let's go find them both. I sure they're just relaxing in the village."

Picking himself up, he walked towards the boy and pulled out his 'book'. "Come on let's—get down!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at his sensei's strange words but felt a hand pull him hard towards the ground. Just in time too, as several Shuriken went flying through the air, attempting to hit Naruto in non-vital areas.

Looking up from the ground, he saw his sensei pull a Kunai out, holding it out towards two people.

Getting up, he himself pulled out his own Knife and looked at the two in front of him.

"Hello Kakashi." Said Uchiha Itachi.

XXXXX

Jiraiya thanked whatever deity was watching out for him, and all those he cared about. If he hadn't stayed behind, he didn't want to think of what would happen.

_Flashback_

_Due to the fact that he wanted the Uchiha to wait for an extra hour, he decided to stop by a little ramen shop called Ichiraku's, not only to get a decent meal, but also for information. After all, the both of them have been friends for a long time._

_When he arrived to the establishment, he found his old friend just boiling some broth._ _Ichiraku held his hand out and greeted happily "Good to see you Jiraiya, come on in and take a seat."_

_Jiraiya shook his hand and ordered a large bowl of Miso ramen._

'_Oh shit, something big must be going down.' Jiraiya thought as he felt the slip of paper in his hand. Ichiraku was only this nice when information was top-secret._

"_We haven't had your service here in a while, so here, the first one is on the house."_

"_Thanks, so how is your daughter doing?" _

"_She's in the back, but don't bother her now, she's upset at me."_

_The chef went back to chopping up the vegetables and throwing them into the broth._

"_What did you do this time?"_

"_The usual"_

_The word 'Usual' had many different meanings to many people, but Jiraiya knew what it was. In this case, it was buying, selling, and trading secrets that could cripple countries, destroy reputations, and turn the tides of war._ _Ichiraku secretly was one the most powerful information dealers on the market…and one of the best ramen chefs too._

"_Have you seen Naruto lately?" asked Ichiraku._

'_So this has to do with Naruto? Something must be happening to him.'_

"_No, not since last week." Jiraiya casually replied, continuing to act as though this were a normal conversation._

"_Oh well, that's a shame, well, here you go."_

_The Sannin ate his food in silence as he wondered just what was going down. Judging from what just happened, some serious shit was about to start._ _Finishing his bowl, he casually left the shop and turned down an alley way._ _Immediately, he concentrated hard, trying to find anyone that was around him. _

_Seeing that the area was safe, he pulled out the small slip of paper, and etched on it was a quick phrase._

'_Akatsuki. Naruto. Nearby.'_

_He glanced around the alleyway slightly worried, and performed a small fire jutsu on the piece of paper, and crushed the ashes. 'Oh shit'_

_End of Flashback_

XXXXX

The clearing was large, and surrounded by trees, not only that but it was also quite far away from anyone to notice something was going on.

"Run Naruto, go to the village and alert the Anbu!" Shouted his sensei.

Immediately, the Shark-looking man stepped up. "I'm not gonna allow that. The name is Kisame, and I'll be the one cutting of your legs today." He pulled unlatched his giant sword, and unwrapped it, showing to all a blue blade…with scales.

Kakashi looked at the two before lifting his headband, revealing his mighty Sharingan. Itachi looked upon Kakashi before stating "We are here for Naruto, give him to us and you won't have to worry about dying."

"You lay a finger on him, and I'll kill you."

"So be it."

Kisame was the first to attack.

He raised his sword high into the air and brought it down with amazing speed, about to slice the man in half. Unsurprisingly, the man was replaced by a log. Suddenly, a pair of hands emerged from the ground and attempted to pull him down. Kisame chuckled as he was pulled down a foot, before stabbing his sword deep into the ground, and waited for the satisfying crunch of flesh.

To his surprise, the hands exploded in smoke and Kisame couldn't help but laugh. "You wasted chakra on Shadow clones?"

"No, I did" The shark man tiled his head slightly to the left and saw Naruto finish his hand seals. **"Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu"** Immediately, a fireball was racing towards him, attempting to turn him into a fish fry. Grinning again, he opened his mouth and a jet of water came flowing out, engulfing the fireball entirely.

Yet behind him, Kakashi emerged with his blade, attempting to cut his throat, until a volley of Shuriken stopped him. "Your fight is with me Hatake." Itachi said, as his Sharingan activated.

He looked towards Itachi before his face became dark. "Let's go, Traitor."

There was only one problem when they were fighting, and that was to not look directly into Itachi's eyes. Kakashi ran forward, and leapt into the air, attempting to kick the Uchiha in the head. Itachi ducked and Kakashi's foot soared over his head.

Itachi dropped down and kicked Kakashi's single leg, out from under him, and making him drop down onto his back. He pulled out a kunai and struck at the Jounin's exposed neck. However, he rolled away and jumped back onto his feet.

Kakashi pulled two blades into his hands and ran forward. Running forward, he threw one of the Kunai, and saw Itachi catch it in midair. Kakashi held the knife in reverse and blocked a swipe made by Itachi. Abruptly, he punched the Uchiha in the chest with his free knocking him off guard and allowing Kakashi to slice him across the chest.

To his surprise, Itachi burst into a flock of ravens. He looked around and felt the air shift behind him. Kakashi dropped down and narrowly dodged a kick towards his head, missing him by inches.

He rolled away and quickly rose to his feet, and charged at the Uchiha again. He threw a punch which was caught, and Kakashi used his free hand to grip Itachi's wrist and throw him halfway across the clearing into the trees.

Unfortunately, he aligned himself in the air and the soles of his feet stuck to the base of a tree. But Kakashi was already running up towards Itachi, forming seals as he ran towards him. Chakra formed around his hand until it turned to lightning.

"**Chidori!"**

He continued to charge forward, pushing as much chakra as he could into his legs. He knew that Itachi didn't have enough time to get out of the way, and he raised his head to meet eyes with Kakashi. 'Oh shit' went through his mind and Itachi's eye changed.

Into that of a Mangekyou. "It's over" Itachi said. And it was.

"**Tsukuyomi"**

Kakashi stopped his run and fell towards the ground, ending their fight.

XXXXX

When their fight had started, Naruto knew there was no way in hell he could fight this man. As they began began, Kisame ran up to Naruto at impossible speeds and backhanded him across the clearing. That strike threw him nearly seventy feet, and took him several seconds to recover. When he rose up, he was facing the Shark-man once again.

"Don't make this too boring, it's kinda unfair that Itachi gets your Kakashi, and I'm stuck with a little runt like you."

Naruto spat out some blood, and looked at Kisame. "Don't worry about that, I won't lose to an ugly ass like you!"

"That's more like it kid."

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** bellowed the Boy, and suddenly a dozen Naruto's came into existence. They surrounded Kisame and all began to smirk. "Do you think you can handle all of us?"

Kisame himself grinned, and hacked at the two clones in front of him, feeling little resistance to his blade.

The ten remaining clones behind Kisame charged, and were only two feet away when they were hacked in two.

"Let me introduce you to Samehada" He said, pointing to the Sword in his hand. This can-" Three clones emerged behind him trying to strike the Jugular and stop him, only to have their heads lobbed off.

"Cut and-" he grinned. Once again, another set of hands gripped his legs from beneath the ground.

Grabbing one of the hands, he forcibly pulled the clone out of the ground and jammed Samehada into its belly. "Shave. Boy kid, you really are a crappy Ninja. You haven't even laid a punch on me."

Naruto emerged from beneath the ground and looked at Kisame darkly. "I'm gonna make you eat those words!"

"Come on then, make me." He said mockingly. Naruto rushed forward and threw a dozen Shuriken, only for them to be blocked by the massive sword. Kisame swung his sword as Naruto was only a few feet away, aiming for Naruto's legs. Yet, the boy jumped over the blade and pulled out one of his Kunai, attempting to jam it into his elbow.

To his surprise, Kisame simply dropped his sword, and grabbed Naruto's hand with ease.

The boy struggled out of his grip and the Shark simply pulled his hand back and struck Naruto across the face. The boy skidded a few feet across the ground and tried to get back up.

"Come on kid, let me just get rid of those legs." He commented uninterested, as picked up Samehada and walked towards the fallen Blonde.

"I won't give up! That's not my way of the Ninja!"

"Heh, I like your attitude, but you won't be saying that after I'm done with you."

He raised his sword, getting ready to cut through the flesh and bone when suddenly he heard a shout behind him. **"Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu"** The fireball that was launched was quite big, and within it were nearly twenty shuriken.

Kisame jumped out of the way, but felt a shuriken bury itself into his forearm, and had a few small burns along his arm.

He looked at the spot where Naruto was and saw his hand was on fire. But as the boy continued to run, Kisame used his good arm to wield Samehada, and he held it out towards Naruto.

Naruto stopped suddenly when he realized that his hand was not ablaze anymore, and he saw that all of his clones exploded.

"Hahah! Impressive!" Kisame smiled happily. He reached towards his arm and yanked out the shuriken before looking back at Naruto. "Nice little plan you had. But it wouldn't have made a difference. It's time to end this, we gotta leave. It looks like Kakashi lost."

Naruto look at the other side of the field and saw his sensei fall to his knees. 'It's over, we lost.' Kisame held the shuriken and tossed it at Naruto.

The speed was blinding, and the shuriken sliced deeply into Naruto's leg, half of it buried deep within. "I think I forgot to mention that my sword here eat chakra. Quite a handy ability when dealing with trash like you."

Naruto held back the shout of pain, and looked at the man, realizing that there was no way to win this. "Sorry kid, but it's time to go." As he walked towards Naruto, a massive toad jumped in front of him, wielding two large axes.

"You had better leave the child alone, or you will deal with me." Said a voice behind him, carrying with it malice. He looked behind him, and was kicked across the face by none other than Jiraiya, the legendary Toad Hermit.

Kisame picked himself up off the ground and looked Jiraiya in the eye. "Wanna fight you old bastard?"

"Kisame, that's enough." Kisame looked behind himself and saw Itachi. "If we were to fight him, I have no doubt in my mind that we would both die."

"Itachi, I know who this guy is, we can take him out if we just work together."

Itachi looked at Kisame sternly, and reluctantly the Shark nodded. "Let's go."

Quickly, they both jumped into the trees and retreated.

Jiraiya continued to look at where they had gone, before letting loose the breath he had been holding. He walked over to Naruto and looked at the boy, looking for injuries, and taking note of the boy's leg, and the Chuunin flak jacket he was wearing.

"Thank you" Naruto said shakily. "If you hadn't come…Kakashi-Sensei, a-and I co-could have been killed." The boy was stuttering, feeling fear finally.

"You're safe now; I'm here to protect you. Now beside's your leg, what else is hurt?"

"I-I'm alright, but what about Ka-"

"Don't worry about him; I've got a Shadow clone helping him. He is being taken to the hospital." Jiraiya was taking note of how badly the kid was shaking. "I'm going to take out the shuriken. It's going to hurt, but I need you to be strong. Here, bite down on this." He said, as he ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt. "It's a flesh wound, so it should heal, but there's gonna be a scar."

Naruto nodded and bit down on the cloth; ready for the pain that was about to occur. Jiraiya was an accomplished medic, not as good as Tsunade, but he knew how to save others on the battlefield.

He placed his fingers into the wound and wrapped his fingers around the small hole in the shuriken, and in one pull, ripped out the shuriken. Naruto groaned in pain, and several tears were falling from his face, but he still kept his composure.

His hand began to grow green, and began to use the healing technique taught to him by Tsunade. Jiraiya was greatly surprised at how fast the skin was mending. He didn't worry about being sanitary or getting Naruto sick, after all, not only did Naruto have a 'Super Immune System' but the jutsu also killed foreign bacteria.

'Amazing' Thought Jiraiya, as he gazed upon the leg he had healed. Within only one minute, the wound was fully healed, and not a scar to see. By this time, Naruto was calm, and the fear was gone. "So why did you insult the Hokage that way?" talking about their first encounter.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto and smiled. "Would you believe me if I told you that he was my teacher?"

At those words, the Blonde gaped at the Hermit, his eyes full of wonder. "You were taught by him too?" Immediately Naruto hit himself on the head and growled. He just let loose the secret that he promised to the Third.

"Don't worry, I knew you were being trained by him, and to answer your question, yes, I was trained by him. Now can you walk?" He said, pointing to the leg that was hurt just moments ago.

Naruto got up, and jumped into the air. "Wow! I feel great! Whatever you did helped a lot."

"That's great, well, we need to get back to the village and tell the Anbu what happened. I don't want you to get hurt again." He turned towards the tree and looked at the sky, seeing that the sun was setting, and casting an orange glow on the horizon above the trees

"Wait, I still don't know your name. You told me before, but I kind of wasn't listening."

Jiraiya smiled at the boy and looked upon his godson.

"My name is Jiraiya."

XXXXX

Chapter end.

7.8k Words. Meh.

Review.


	4. Chapter 4

XXXXX

"**Chidori!**" Sasuke shouted as he forced his hand forward, rushing to pierce the boulder in front of him. There was a large flash of light, and the boy found his hand easily penetrating the stone. Suddenly his chakra cut out, running out of energy to continue the assassination technique. 'Damn it' he thought as he began to pry his arm free. Sasuke began to brood over the events that had unfolded only days before.

He was told he was to take a trip with a man called a Sannin, so that he may receive extra training. He had heard that name before, but never paid any mind to it. Any extra training would be invaluable to his quest.

"Where did you gain such power?" He clenched his fist and growled angrily. Naruto Uzumaki was simple to figure out. He ate ramen, wore a jumpsuit, and shouted to the heavens of becoming Hokage. But now, after what the boy had demonstrated in the forest, Sasuke felt betrayed.

Sasuke Uchiha was supposed to be the hero, the most powerful Genin of Team 7, not Naruto. However, no matter what training was given to him by Kakashi, it seemed as though reaching Naruto's level would be impossible. He needed to gain power fast, so that he could defeat the idiot and continue onto his real goal.

His brother.

Uchiha Sasuke slowly formed several seals and gripped his right with his other hand.

"I will defeat you Naruto." Slowly his eyes changed to blood red, and were illuminated by the bright blue glow of his hand.

XXXXX

It was only an hour after the attack. Three figures stood in the center of the former Hokage's office. The room was clean and tidy. But it lacked the warmth usually felt from the presence from the old man. The darkness from the outside had only amplified this feeling.

"Where is the boy?"

Jiraiya frowned at them, "Well, NARUTO is sleeping in his bed, quite tired after managing to hold his own to an S-ranked missing ninja, and former Kiri Swordsman." emphasizing Naruto' name.

"Take him with you." Stated Homura darkly, "We have taken quite a few casualties during the battle, and dealing with the Akatsuki will be far too great of a problem for us. If they defeated Kakashi as you say, remove the child."

"You are possibly the only one within the village to handle such ninja and protect Naruto. The boy is too great a threat to keep within our walls."

"You make it sound as though Naruto is the one attacking our village." said the toad Sannin.

Homura frowned and looked looked upon him. "He may as well be, that child is bringing far too much trouble upon this land. However, I wait for the day when he fully matures and brings our people to greatness."

"You want him as a weapon? The kid is still in puberty. He's a child."

"Say what you will Jiraiya, but he is a shinobi, and it his duty to protect and fight for the Will of Fire."

"You've got a pretty fucked up Will of Fire then." He chuckled bitterly, these old people sure had some balls to try and screw with his godson.

"Naruto is the one ninja who I believe can save the world, the one who can atone for the sins we have made. You wish for him to be a weapon, but I believe he will be our savior."

XXXXX

_Fear._

_Fear was what he truly felt, emanating from the very center of his soul._

_Naruto sat in the middle of a clearing, looking in front of him at his enemy. Slowly the boy began to pull out a weapon and glared ahead. _ _Gripping the kunai knife with both of his hands, Naruto raised his eyes, looking dead center into the man named Kisame. The Blonde began to utter a battle-cry but found that his voice was lost, and that his limbs did not move._

_Only to look down and realize his legs were missing._ _He wanted to shout to the heavens in terror as he looked upon his missing appendages. Watching as blood pulsed out with each beat of his heart._ _Naruto glanced around and saw Kakashi laying facedown upon the grass. His sensei turned his head towards the boy, and for the first time ever, Naruto had seen fear enter the eyes of his teacher._

_Slowly from the back, Kisame emerged again, this time carrying the massive blue blade, Samehada._ _Grinning gleefully, the Sharkman raised the sword and plunged it through the back of the man, and forced it a foot into the ground._ _Hatake Kakashi's eye widened, before slowly dimming out._

"_No…" Naruto whimpered, his voice returning._

_Kisame stepped onto Kakashi's head and ripped out the blade from the back of his teacher. Turning away from the corpse, Kisame began his walk towards the boy._

"_No…._

_Slowly the child's eyes turned red and a feral look entered into his face._

"_No…"_

_His nails elongated, and suddenly the focus turned from that of his dead sensei to Kisame._ _r__aising his head, Naruto suddenly realized he could stand up, his legs somehow returned, and power like he had never imagined coursed throughout his body. The blue man stopped and a smile emerged upon his face._

_Mouthing words the boy did not understand, Kisame turned around and kicked the corpse of his teacher in the head._

"_**NOOOOO!"**_

XXXXX

Jiraiya and the two others turned their heads towards the lower district of town, where they felt an ominous presence.

"Come!" Said the Sannin.

Koharu flexed his old joints, as did his partner. Even though they were old, the ninja training in their youth did not leave their bodies. Forcing chakra into their legs, they ran along the rooftops watching as several Anbu sped past them, attempting to surround the area where the chakra was being discharged.

'Could it be that the fox is escaping?' thought the pair of council members. Such an idea was not farfetched. Quickly they looked at Jiraiya and realized that if there was truly any danger, this man would be the only one to handle such a beast.

"Don't worry you old bastards, that thing isn't getting out, the output of chakra is far too weak. Looks like he may have tapped into the power of the beast." Jiraiya said, hoping that they wouldn't do anything drastic.

'Please Naruto, don't do anything you might regret.'

A minute had passed and the trio had arrived. The apartment complex where Naruto had lived was now nothing more than rubble. In it's place was a large hole. In the center stood a boy surrounded in red chakra, growling ferally at the thirty Anbu that surrounded the rim of the crater. Each ninja was holding Kunai in both hands their trained skills ready to put down the child the moment any sudden move was made by the Blonde.

The area was illuminated by the bright red power, which could be seen for miles around in the starry night.

"Stand down." said a voice atop a building. This voice was that of the Toad sage. Several of the 'green' Anbu looked up, breaking their sights from Naruto, and saw three figures overlooking them all. One of the rookies decide to break rank, receiving quick glares from several of the other elder Anbu. He leapt up and landed in front of the elders.

"I'm sorry, you're gonna have to stay back, we've got this beast cornered."

"Anyone hurt?"

"No, but any indication of an attack will lead to his death."

Jiraiya growled at the rookie before walking forward. Quickly the younger man ran forward, trying to incapacitate the elder. Unfortunately, he found his face smashed against the concrete roof, his masked cracked from the impact. Jiraiya stood up from the knocked out form of the Anbu and shouted at the circle of ninja.

"Stand down, all of you! Yeah, you heard me, you too! Let me handle this." He said, ignoring the protests of the younger generation. They didn't seem to recognize him at all. Each ninja looked upon Naruto, never breaking their gazes, as they thought the old man was senile.

"Old man, this is now a situation of the military, step aside or you will be sent to Interrogation and Processing." Shouted one of the squad leaders, hoping that the trespasser would be frightened of being sent to Ibiki.

Koharu stepped forward and glared at the Shinobi. "Drop all of your weapons immediately, and back away from the child, this is an order from the council elders!"

Hesitantly, all of the ninja stowed their weapons except for a pair, both standing side by side. All of the ninja dispersed, but if one concentrated, you could feel their presences around the area; waiting for the Jinchuuriki to attack so that it could get put down. The two remaining ninja began to chuckle, preparing their weapons to attack the young demon.

"We don't take orders from the council, only the Hokage, and neither of you seem to be Hokage."

A large roar erupted from Naruto, when he realized that the danger had passed and he now stared at pair in front of him. Seeming to be distracted, the boy took his chance. Blinded by rage and fueled by anger he ran forward, wanting to taste blood. Both Anbu raised the Kunai in their hands and turned towards the boy. Suddenly, both of their visions became foggy.

Naruto stopped in the middle of the charge and saw the two in front crumple away, revealing a man Naruto somewhat remembered. Quickly, in blinding speed, the man emerged in front of him, and Naruto could feel the energy that had empowered him so much, leave, and in its place, pain grow upon his abdomen.

The boy fell over onto his attackers arm and caught a glimpse of white hair before passing out. Silence filled the area, and Jiraiya held the boy within his arms bridal style. "I will take him with me." He said firmly. "Now this is not a matter of what you believe, I will help him control the great power he holds."

"Jiraiya I thi-" Started Homura.

"No! This is my godson, I have a duty to him! I don't care what you think, you may even label me a missing nin, but I swear, if any attempt is made upon this boys life, I'll kill whoever tries, I promise!"

They were quiet, realizing that what they were saying was true. Jiraiya turned away from the two. "I'm going to leave right now." Biting his thumb and forming several seals, he called forth the jutsu. "A lynch mob is soon going to be forming, just like the day after he was born." He said bitterly.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu.**" A large orange toad 'poofed' into existence, and was slightly larger than Jiraiya.

"Grab Naruto" Said the Sannin.

The toad nodded, and reached grabbed the boy with his webbed hands and placed him upon his back. Jiraiya pulled out several pieces of rope from a scroll and tied the boy securely to the toad. Nodding at each other, the pair leapt away, sinking from view in the night sky.

The two elders were quiet; they knew that with Jiraiya, Naruto could possibly become their greatest ally…

ninja…

weapon.

XXXXX

'Why does my bed feel hard? Did I roll out again…and why does my gut hurt?' was what a certain child began to wonder as he awoke. 'Why am I thinking so much?'

Suddenly, the memory of the dream he had filled his mind, and he shook his head, trying to clear his head of the nightmare. He tried to open his eyes but the bright sun streaming down from the windows had blinded him. He sniffed the air and immediately stood up, realizing that this was not his home.

The scent of ramen was missing in the air.

He looked around and saw a cot next to his, neatly folded and empty. Glancing down towards his body, Naruto found that he was only in his boxers and black Tee. He also realized he couldn't find his shuriken pouch. Immediately, he paused and turned towards the table next to his cot. Atop of it were his clothes and headband, and they appeared to be cleaned?

He first placed his vest on, and continued to follow suit with the rest of his uniform, and was quite surprised to find his wallet in his pocket, still jam-packed with money-goodness. To his dismay however, it appeared that his weapons pouch could not be found. Looking around, he frowned when he couldn't find his orange jacket, only to remember he had given it to Gaara.

"That was my last one" he muttered.

Slipping on the gloves, he stared fondly at the seals inscribed upon it. Thinking of the old Kage and how he still helped, even in death.

The sound of shouting outside and broken him from his memories. His heart began to beat when he wondered just what was happening. Naruto reached into his Flak jacket and reached into the scroll pouch. However, instead of a scroll was a hidden kunai. He had placed it there because he was too lazy to put it into his weapons holster.

'This thing rocks!' the Kid thought smugly, realizing just how damn useful this vest really was. He hid the knife for safe keeping back in the pouch. Finding his sandals by the door he placed them on and walked towards the window and opened it. Going through the door would be too obvious in case he was captured.

Outside was a city he knew was not Konoha. The place was bustling with commerce and the buildings were pristine. Not too hard to figure out, considering a quarter of the buildings in Konoha was damaged. He leapt down from the window and began to walk around, trying to take in his surroundings in case they were hostile.

The area was bustling with activity, and as he passed by several of the people, they called out to him, shouting for his business and money. Usually when he entered the marketplace the area froze. Even the pigs near the butcher shop appeared to silence, and from that moment each store would close up, taking a lunch break.

Here however, he found that people did not close up, instead, they just seemed to urge the boy to come to them.

Very unsettling.

He continued to pass by a few more shops and saw three women on the corner of an intersection in front of him. Seeing his headband and Chuunin jacket, several of the women made catcalls, attempting to get his attention. Unknowingly, the child walked towards them, not knowing why they would want to talk to someone such as him.

Upon closer inspection he found these women to be scantily clad, wearing short skirts, boots, and VERY revealing shirts. But if they wanted him, he may as figure out why.

Suddenly he found that one their tones had changed, to one of a mocking type.

"Oh, look at that, he's just a kid." said one of the three women. She was a strange woman with tattoos all over her body, while her face was unmarked and beautiful.

"Misato, you wanna take this one? You always seem to go for the old men wearing diapers, how about this kid; he looks like he's barely left the tit. Playing ninja, kid?" Chuckled the blue haired woman, pointing at the tattooed female

The third lady however was concerned "Hello there, are you trying to find your mother? Are you lost?" Her red lips frowned in worry, and her powder white face carried the same expression.

Naruto at the moment however was pissed. Here he was, a CHUUNIN of the Konoha, and being treated like a baby. Who the hell did these ladies think they were?

"Well, Misato, even as a whore, my standards aren't exactly high, but there are places even I won't go, Johnnies smaller than me aren't exactly my standard."

"I have a name" he growled "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage! Not kid, and I'm-"

Suddenly the inked lady gasped. "Uzumaki Naruto!"

Grinning, Naruto placed his hands on his hips, recognition felt really good, "So you've heard of me huh?"

"Nope"

The Blondie quickly got angry again, as this lady laughed at his expression. Naruto was about to take this woman on when a shadow appeared on his back.

"My, my, my, already interested in the opposite sex huh?"

Naruto swiftly turned around and spotted Jiraiya. Quickly, a feeling of relief washed over the boy as he realized that he wasn't captured, or in any danger. This was a man he could trust with his life.

The ladies were surprised, shocked at seeing such a man. He was quite well known in many countries after all.

"Jiraiya!" They shouted in unison. This man was one of the most famous customers for their line of work. Suddenly, their 'work-mode' expressions activated, knowing that they still had a job to do.

"Oh my, he's even more handsome in person." said Misato, trying to flatter this man to pay her for her services.

"Shut it" said the Tattooed lady, "everyone on this street knows how dirty you are, Jiraiya-sama, how about a real woman?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, chuckling at how popular he truly was. "Sorry ladies, I'm just here to take my apprentice, him and I are on a mission."

All three women sighed sadly, "Come visit us sometime Jiraiya-sama, we are the finest women on this side of town." said Misato professionally.

Suddenly she turned towards Naruto. "If you want to become a man, little Naruto, come stop by sometime. I'm pretty good at handling first timers." She winked, and blew a kiss towards the boy, leaving him red in the face. Each woman turned and walked away, going to another spot to find some business.

Chuckling, Jiraiya slapped Naruto on the back. "Well now, you seem to be popular."

"Who were to those ladies sensei, and what's a 'whore'?" the boy asked quizzically. Jiraiya did a double take at Naruto when he realized that the boy had no idea just what those women were. He replied quickly with the age old "You'll learn when you're older" comment and turned towards Naruto, knowing that the child had a few more questions to ask.

Jiraiya also realized that Naruto had called him Sensei. The old man felt his heart begin to ache, and the shadow of his old student overtake Naruto. Shaking his head, he cleared his head of the nostalgia. Naruto decided to continue to speak.

"Why are we out here, why did you bring me here?" The boy questioned, knowing that the old man had an answer.

"Naruto, there is something I must tell you."

XXXXX

The boy was sitting on the floor, his legs crossed beneath him. His façade was grim, his gloved hands gripping his knees tightly, as he heard the story of what happened two days ago yesterday.

"We need to control this power of yours." He said simply, as though they were discussing something over dinner. "Although you bear a large burden, I believe that it could become one of your greatest assets."

The Blonde continued to be silent; thinking of what he had done. His home was destroyed, all his belongings were gone. His weapons, clothes, and many trinkets he had were now lost in the rubble of the apartment building.

A sense of grief began to loom over the boy as he realized that he had just lost most, if not all of his worldly possessions. Quickly, he sighed and looked at Jiraiya.

"How can we control the fox?" He asked curiously.

"Naruto, I want to train you."

XXXXX

Sasuke was seething in anger.

So many things had happened yesterday.

Sasuke sat in the training field of Team 7, staring at the three logs in front of him.

He was firstly informed of Naruto's promotion; the promotion which rightly belonged to him, Sasuke Uchiha. That rank that should never have been given to a Dope like Naruto.

He later learned that his training trip was abruptly cancelled, something he had been looking forward to for a few days. To know that he could be pushed away so easily was a large blow to his ego.

Lastly, which was possibly the reason for his foul mood, was the news of Kakashi, and his brother. The thought of Itachi set off the searing flames in his heart as he thought of that traitor. To know that even his sensei, the strongest man he knew, was easily defeated

Orochimaru and Itachi and gained so much power, and it seemed to come so naturally to them. He tried to think of their similarities, wondering what gave them their godly powers, when it hit him.

Sasuke came upon a startling realization.

He needed to leave.

Those two had left, and in their absence, they became one of the most feared missing ninja in history.

But now was not the time, there were too many ninja here, too many cautious Anbu protecting the villagers and watching for deserters who feared all was lost. Trying to leave would be a fool's mission. For now, he would wait, and keep his patience. Soon, this village would be nothing but a memory, and his path to power would elevate him to be greater than the Kages of past.

Soon.

XXXXX

Ino was just managing her family's store that Sunday morning, walking about with a watering can and, well, watering, when Sakura entered, ready to begin her day with her friend. The two were now friends again; ever since the Chuunin exams, the two had been mending their relationship, both trying to become the companions they used to be. Gossiping was now one of favorite pastimes, next to arguing over Sasuke, and walking all over the village, looking for cute boys.

This day however would be a little different.

Looking up from her job, the long haired girl ran towards Sakura, ready to tell the rumors of the events that had occurred the day before. Quickly running up to the girl, Ino hugged Sakura and greeted her. Ino ran behind the counter excitedly where she did business and sat in the chair, and Sakura ran to the front of the counter, sitting atop of it; it was time for gossip.

"So Sakura, did you hear about what happened last night?"

Sakura, while she did not know what happened last night, had felt a feeling of bloodlust and anger she had known only once before…but she couldn't place her finger on it.

Sakura had some idea of what possibly occurred. She felt a massive amount killing intent just as she was about to go to sleep. Sakura had gotten dressed in record time, and gathered her kunai pouch when she had opened her window to assist in what was occurring. Luckily for her, as she watched several Anbu rush across the tops of the buildings, one had paused in his/her stride.

The Anbu ninja had told the young Genin to stay inside, and that the situation was under control. She went back into her room and sat on her bed, watching the window, and still in her clothes. The killing intent suddenly ended and a minute later, and she saw several Anbu run back to their stations. After that, she knew everything would be okay….but still… it had taken the poor girl a few hours to fall asleep after what she felt.

Anger, bloodlust, rage, hate…pure evil.

Immediately Ino began. "Well, from my credible source." She said proudly. _'Your Daddy'_ Thought Sakura. "Apparently, two Ninja tried to get into our village, two _**S**_-Classed _**missing**_ ninja and they were stopped by a Chuunin, Jounin, and a Sannin. How crazy is that?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise; S-Classed was Kage level. For two of them to enter and be fought back by only three ninja, regardless of having a Sannin, was amazing.

"Who were they?" Sakura inquired, curious as to who the hell would try and attack Konoha, even after they were weakened.

"That's another weird part thing, no one will tell who the two S-classed ninja were, or even the identities of the Jounin and Chuunin. It's like they want to keep it a secret, I only found out the Sannin was called Jiraiya."

Normally, among the Ninja crowd of Konoha, soldiers who would go above the call of duty would be talked about, impressed by what they had done; whether it would be stealing intelligence from a hostile area and returning in one piece, assassinating royalty from another country, or how some Kunoichi would seduce diplomats and almost double the amount of missions received by that areas leader.

And while some were worried that the identities of said Shinobi would be revealed to family members and governments, Ninja could keep secrets very well…and tell them well too. Sakura was getting quite interested in this conversation. "You really have no idea who they were? Come on, you are the Queen of Gossip" Sakura said rolling her eyes, "you've got to have heard something, come on Ino."

"Nobody said anything about the Jounin, but names of the Chuunin are flying around like crazy. Some people think that it was Iruka-Sensei! From the Academy! Could you imagine him even fighting?"

Sakura burst into laughter at that comment. Iruka-sensei was, from her standpoint, a pacifist. Sure, he had trained them to be killing machines, but that man didn't really seem to have it in him to fight. Even Hinata seemed more vicious!

"One person even said it was Naruto!" Ino said with an un-ladylike snort.

Sakura kept giggling but felt a question tug at her lips. "How would Naruto be involved?"

Ino's smile left her face and immediately realized what was happening. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Sakura asked. Dreading the answer she already knew from Ino's question. "Do you mean to tell me that…" said Sakura, the smile dropping from her face.

Ino shifted a bit in her chair uncomfortably. "Well yeah…yesterday, he and Shikamaru were promoted to Chuunin…" muttered the Blonde girl, shifting slightly at the gaze of the pink haired girl. Sakura had a look of shock and anger on her face. Sakura growled slightly and continued to probe for answers from her friend, intent on knowing why the idiot on her team never told her.

There was going to be hell to pay when she found the annoying brat. Unfortunately for her, said Blonde was many miles away.

XXXXX

Naruto sneezed while the two of them continued down the road. The pair had just left the previous town and Jiraiya was walking beside Naruto. All around them were trees, and as far as they could see were trees. Naruto wondered how this little dirt road could ever be found in all these trees. In the old mans hand was a notebook and in the other, a pencil. Jiraiya was eager to complete his next book. His fans were moaning like the horny undead, eager for more amazing smut spawned from the mind of Jiraiya, the Toad Sannin. He was truly awe inspiring.

Next to him, Naruto was slightly angry. They had been traveling along the road for several hours, and the old lecher hadn't even tried to teach him yet. The blond took another glance at Jiraiya and felt his anger rise when the man gave another perverted giggle. Seriously, how could he go in public like that?

"Naruto" He said and sat on the ground against a tree, "let's take a quick break here, my legs are a little tired." Naruto could do nothing but throw his backpack on the ground and lean against a tree, frowning at Jiraiya.

Placing the pencil and notebook in his vest, Jiraiya reached behind himself and pulled out an old wooden pipe. Quietly, he searched around in his pockets before finding a small pouch of tobacco and adding several pinches to the pipe. He held the pipe in one hand and pulled out a small box of matches. Carefully, he lit the end of the pipe and puffed for several seconds before turning his gaze to Naruto.

"Was that the Old Mans?" Naruto said nostalgically, remembering the smell of tobacco commonly found in the Hokage office.

Jiraiya nodded and held it out to Naruto. "Here, for Sensei."

Shaking his head in agreement, Naruto took the pipe and inhaled too deeply, making him hack and wheeze. "What is that crap! Why would you breathe in that junk! I was told that it was bad for you back in the academy!"

Grinning, Jiraiya took the pipe back and took one more puff before putting it out. "It's calming, and helps eases me out."

Naruto hacked up a wad of spit, before turning back to him, "When am I going to get training, we've been walking for hours!" said Naruto, remembering more important things than lung cancer. "I want to be stronger! How can I defeat those two guys if you can't even train me!"

Jiraiya abruptly stood up, and walked over to Naruto. His face became serious and dark, and Naruto knew he said something wrong. Jiraiya frowned as he looked over Naruto, shaking his head the entire time.

"I am a worthy Teacher for you, but are you a worthy enough student for me? You cry and complain, but what have you done for yourself. I will train you Naruto, but you also need the ability to train yourself. I don't really know how hard it was for you growing up, and I don't care. As my student, I will teach you, but you will follow your own path."

Forming several seals, Jiraiya slammed his palm against the ground and growled "**Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!**" Immediately, the ground in front of the two turned a dark brown color, and the soil began to bubble in some areas. Naruto stared at the forest and saw nearly a hundred trees begin to sink into the ground. Within several seconds, nothing remained above the ground. Looking out, Naruto saw a deer struggling to escape, before it too was consumed by the earth.

Naruto looked at the Sannin in wonder and felt himself shaking slightly, not with fear, but with a mixture of respect and awe. There was a reason this man was feared, and he was going to teach him. "I want you to become the greatest ninja in the world, even greater than the Fourth, my greatest student."

The boy's eyes widened and Naruto could only say one thing. "When do we start?"

XXXXX

Tsunade placed her cards down and frowned. Behind her, Shizune was giggling like crazy, and TonTon was squealing nonstop.

The Old Lady was in one of the many casinos in Tanzaku town, finding the lights and sounds to be as enjoyable as drinking.

Tsunade had just scored big, with a small fortune being amassed in front of her. The dealer had to go and restock on chips, because he was cleaned out by this woman, and she was approaching the limit she could win.

She knew she could only win this much for either two things. One, the man was letting her win. Or two, something bad was about to occur. She glanced in the distance and saw several thunder clouds form over the town.

Oh yeah, something very bad was about to happen.

XXXXX

Once the two were out of the forest, Naruto was given the permission to begin using the technique Jiraiya had just shown him. The two had just entered a massive field, with small roads branching off of the one they were walking on.

"**Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld**!" He shouted, but much to his disappointment, the ground appeared to turn brown, but it only became muddy about an inch think. Naruto began to grow impatient, this was his tenth time trying, and nothing seemed to change.

"Come on Sensei! Just give me one tip! It couldn't hurt at all!" He said. Naruto knew he needed to do this on his own, but he needed to know how the jutsu worked.

Annoyed, Jiraiya looked away from his notes and stared at the ground Naruto had attempted to change. "Keep using the same amount of chakra, stop concentrating it in one spot. That's the only help you get from me." Naruto glared at him before pondering his words, and turned back to solve his dilemma. What did it mean to stop concentrating it in one spot? He knew he had the amount of area covered right, so what was the problem. Jiraiya walked ahead and Naruto stared at the ground, performing the seals again, and shouting its name, he watched as nothing happened again.

"What do I do?" He shouted loudly, before running to catch up with Jiraiya, and slipping on a bit of mud that he created. He shouted in surprise before he landed face first in the mud. The impact didn't hurt too bad, but the ground beneath still was hard enough to have him dazed. Suddenly, he realized just what he was doing. He only concentrated the chakra at the top of the soil, not deep into it.

Forming the seals again, Naruto watched as the green blades of grass began to sink, along with some fencing from a local farm and a signpost. Naruto felt like cheering until he saw a pair of rabbits emerge from the ground and struggle. He remembered what happened similarly with the deer, and felt his stomach knot. Killing little innocent creatures was something he did not enjoy. He would take care when using his techniques.

Naruto swallowed nervously, and ran to catch up with his sensei. He didn't want to be caught for destroying someone's property. Looking back, Jiraiya saw the small area of destruction and grinned, "Nice work, I think you have it down, but let's not do that stuff around peoples property."

They traveled for a few more hours and finally arrived at Tanzaku Town. Jiraiya looked in front of him and saw the town in the distance, with several storm clouds clearing up around it. "Looks like we missed the storm kid, lets go and see if we can find Tsunade, it's getting dark out." Naruto nodded in agreement, and the pair set off in a quick run.

XXXXX

(Three hours later)

Upon their arrival, the master and student bought some ramen, and checked into a hotel. They dropped off their belongings and soon began their search. Jiraiya handed a picture of Tsunade to Naruto, and the boy quirked an eye at it. "I thought we were looking for an old lady." said Naruto. He was told that she was over fifty, the lady in this picture looked to be at least in her twenties. Just what kind of game was Jiraiya playing?

"Listen Naruto, when you meet her, don't say anything, let me do all the talking. Oh, and don't mention her age… unless you feel the need to eat through a straw."

"Sure Sensei, whatever you say." said Naruto, skeptical that this woman was capable of running a ninja village. They continued their trek through the middle of the town, along the main strip where many of the stores were open late at night. Jiraiya held up pictures to several of the vendors, but none of them could recall the face of the woman.

They searched for hours until it was nearing midnight, and Naruto was hungry again. After nearly three hours of searching, only one man was able to confirm that Tsunade was there. He could only remember the breasts on her unfortunately, her face was a complete blur to him. Another man told him he remembered Tsunade very well. Apparently, she had won so much money, that she was removed from the casino, and he had lost his job as a dealer in the process.

That didn't sound like the Tsunade he knew.

So they continued their walk, and when Naruto's mouth had decided to start yapping again about another dinner, they both walked into a quaint little restaurant. To Jiraiya's surprise, Tsunade was mere meters away from him, downing a small cup of sake.

"Hey waiter, I thought I told you to keep me constantly filled up on liquor. What hell do you think I'm paying you for?" Tsunade shouted in a drunken slur. Beside her, Shizune was trying to sink underneath the table, attempting to hide from the many eyes glancing in her direction. She tried to ignore them, but one pair immediately caught her attention.

"Jiraiya-sama! Over here!" said Shizune, waving her hand above the crowd. He smiled at her in a friendly way before making his way to the pair at the table. He looked behind himself and saw Naruto holding his bowl of ramen, trying to balance the bowl and look at the large chested Sannin.

He ushered Naruto in first, and watched the boy begin to eat before turning his eyes to Tsunade. "Long time no see Tsunade. As usual, you glow with the intensity of the sun." Tsunade was drunk, yes, quite drunk. But even with alcohol clouding her mind, she was still a ninja. It would take a lot more than this to impair her greatly.

"Damn it Jiriaya, save your shitty pick up lines for other drunken women." She growled. Her demeanor changed quickly, and a small smile graced her features. She pulled the untouched sake cup away from Shizune and slammed it in front of Jiraiya. "If you want to talk to me, drink up." Sighing, Jiraiya gripped the cup and watched as Tsunade poured a gracious amount. He sniffed it slightly, before dumping its entire contents into his mouth. He swished it around a bit and found that it was cheap quality. He swallowed, before holding his cup out, a sign for more.

Tsunade complied, and filled it to the brim, before speaking. "You know, it been a while since I've had a drink with someone familiar." She said before filling her cup again. "Shizune here, sure, she's good company, but she never decides to just let loose once in a while and just drink our problems away."

"It's because, Tsunade-sama, you tend to make more problems when you drink, and I'm the one who has to clean them up." Shizune said, slightly offended. Naruto, the whole time was wondering just what was going on. Surely this…Drunk couldn't be wanted as the next Hokage. He kept staring at her, quietly wondering just who she could really be, when she caught sight of him looking at her.

"Hey Jiraiya, who's the runt? Kid looks like he just left the damn academy." Tsunade said, a slur in her voice. "They make kids like you Chuunin? God damn, the village has lost its way since I left…" Her eyes began to glaze over as she thought of the past. Meanwhile, Naruto was fuming, losing interest in his ramen. He was more focused on just who this bitch was. She not only insulted him, but Konoha as well.

"Tsunade, we need you to be the next Hokage." Jiraiya said abruptly, earning a sharp glance from Tsunade, and a look of surprise from Shizune.

"Don't tell me Sensei finally kicked the bucket." She said offhandedly. "Oh well" she shrugged, "At least he got what was coming to him." Naruto at this time was about to jump out of his seat, ready to light this bitch on fire, when Jiraiya placed his hand on his shoulder, before looking Naruto in the eyes and shaking his head.

"Oh? Getting angry kid? What's your name?"

He straightened his back and proudly proclaimed, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage." pointing his thumb at himself.

"More like moron if you asked me."

Jiraiya chuckled at the comment, and Naruto looked at him, slightly betrayed. "Come on Tsunade, let's discuss this like adults."

"There's nothing to discuss, I don't want the job."

She poured herself another drink and gulped it quickly. "So how did he die?" She said with a form of sadness in her voice.

"The village was attacked a week ago. Sand and Sound had invaded the village, but we repelled them. Unfortunately, Sensei died trying to save our village. It was Orochimaru."

Her eyes widened slightly at those words before closing them and sighing. "You see what I mean, only a fool would want to be Hokage. You fight and die, but for what cause? What did he die for Jiriaya?"

Jiraiya frowned at her words, realizing this was going to be harder than he thought. Years of pent up anger and frustration, combined with the alcohol had made a once beautiful woman bitter. "Sensei died fighting for what he believed in."

"Fighting for what he believed in?" She scoffed, "Don't go on about that 'Will of Fire' bullshit, it's just another excuse for killing other people."

The Toad Sage closed his eyes and spoke to her. "What about Dan and Nawaki? What did they die for huh?"

Bad choice of words.

Immediately, Jiraiya found himself forced against his seat, Tsunade's hand grasped around his throat. "You don't mention their names EVER!" She shouted. She heard him begin to groan, as his windpipe was being crushed.

Shizune gasped in surprise, but Naruto was already prepared. He pulled out the kunai he was hiding in his jacket and swiped it at the Sannin. She saw it coming, and leapt back, before turning her sights to Naruto. "What's this? You want to play, boy?"

Naruto glared at her before running right at her, his blade extended in front of him. Jiraiya tried to shout for Naruto to stop, only to hear a raspy growl come from his mouth. He stood up, but was too late as he watched Tsunade make the first and possibly only move.

He ran, closing the few meters between them in less than seconds, unfortunately, he was still too slow. Tsunade grasped his kunai wrist and twirled around him. Using his forward momentum and her strength, he was flung out of the building, through a wall. Dust and debris exploded over the small restaurant, and the people ran out scared. Civilians cleared the street, knowing that a ninja battle was a deadly thing to be caught up in.

As they all exited, Tsunade calmly walked out of the building, and glanced at the boy lying in the small crater. "Come now, don't tell me you're done already. Where was that determination I saw earlier" She mocked. She kept walking over to the boy and felt slightly worried she may have gone too far when he burst in a cloud of smoke. She quirked an eyebrow, and leapt into the air, looking as she saw a pair of arms attempt to grab her from beneath the ground.

"My, my, my, seems like someone wants to be a ninja."

Naruto emerged from the earth, and shook himself off before setting his sights on Tsunade. "You're gonna' regret what you did to my Sensei!" He shouted, before forming several seals. "**Katon:Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**"

A medium sized fireball flew towards Tsunade, and Naruto saw no attempt on her part to escape. She instead raised a single fist and slammed it at the ground, causing a large shard of earth to intercept the fireball. Once the fire fell, she jumped atop the boulder and grinned at him.

"Come on brat; try to do a little more than that." He began to feel worried and held his hands up in a cross shape, forming several clones to surround him. Immediately, they all set to work, trying to swarm the woman and beat her with sheer numbers.

Tsunade quickly went to work on them. One of them ran straight at her, his fist cocked back to hit her in her face. She ducked under and saw another attempt to kick her. Grabbing the clone with the arm extended, she swung him like a baseball bat, into the kicking clone. The pair immediately dispersed, leaving only half a dozen more to deal with.

"Which one is next?"

The six looked at each other and nodded. Two of them ran up, both holding the ends of some ninja wire. Tsunade smiled and took a step forward when, once again, another pair of hands emerged from the ground, this time, locking her in place. The two Narutos ran around her and had crossed the wire around her. She looked around, slightly worried, finding her arms bound. The two clones looked at each other in agreement and pulled on the two pieces of wire with all their might, trying to cut her in half. At that moment, she was replaced by a log, just as it was sliced in two.

The pair looked around for their target and looked behind them when they heard a sound. They didn't get to live long when their heads caved in from a pair of fists. Tsunade calmly walked over to the clone still buried in the ground and stamped her foot on the ground, causing a minor earthquake to kill the clone. The last four then ran forward, knowing they would soon be 'dead' too.

One skidded on the floor and tried to drop kick her down, but she bunted it like a football. Another clone attempted to punch her, only to have its chest caved in by a foot. She raised her hand and caught a leg intended to hit her head, and dispelled it with a simple punch. She looked at the last one and realized this one was smirking. His palms were placed against the ground, and she looked down, realizing what was about to occur.

"**Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!**"

She had jumped just in time to watch as several carts, chairs and tables begin to sink quickly into the ground.

Tsunade landed on the roof of the restaurant they were eating at. She had to admire the kid; usually most people would be out of chakra right now. It seemed to her that there was more to this Naruto kid than met the eye. He to jumped on top of the roof, and glared daggers at Tsunade.

"I'm not going to stop until I beat you!" He shouted at her, his anger making him see red. She was taken aback by this statement, before a large smile spread across her face. She could beat him, that was certain, but now she felt the need to humiliate and ruin him. This child who came at her with a dream, something she had lost years ago.

"How about a little wager? You see brat, we can't exactly have a fight out in the open like this, aren't you worried about hurting innocents?"

The Jinchuuriki stopped, and looked down towards the street where their battle had taken place. Black soot covered the building walls, and many of the clothes hanging on clotheslines were aflame. Where people were trying to make a living, Naruto destroyed it all. The stands, carts, and baskets that the people owned were six feet underneath the ground; and it was all because of him. He felt remorse and frustration. His job as a ninja was to help people, but as a ninja, he only caused destruction.

Walking around the roof, Tsunade made the terms of agreement. "The rules are simple, within one week from now, you and I will fight again. If you manage to bring me to my knees, I will gladly become the next Hokage. Not only that, but I'll take back every word I said."

Naruto nodded in agreement.

"But if you lose…you must quit being a ninja forever."

Smiling, she walked in front of him and reached down her shirt. "To sweeten the deal, I'll throw in my grandfather's necklace." She pulled out a small green gem on a chain and held it up to Naruto. "This belonged to the first Hokage, who was my grandfather; a fitting prize for you huh? You said you wanted to be the next Hokage" She jumped off of the roof, and walked out of his sight, but her words were still with him.

Naruto walked down towards the restaurant, and saw the black haired chick that was with Tsunade, press her hand against Jiraiya's throat. The boy walked over next to his teacher and sat there, listening to the slight hum of the healing jutsu being applied to his Sensei's neck.

"Naruto," he said, "you know what you have gotten yourself into right?"

The boy looked at Jiraiya, and lowered his eyes. "I just couldn't stand seeing you getting hurt. When she attacked you, I didn't want to lose another Sensei." He said, his voice choking up.

Jiriaya's demeanor softened and he shook his head in annoyance. "I heard what the challenge was…you know that she was toying with you in your little 'spar' right?"

The blonds fists closed, and he clenched his teeth, "The old man was her teacher, so tell me why she didn't care when he died!" He was now shaking, "I thought students and teachers were supposed to care about each other. How can she not care that he died!"

"Naruto…when you meet her again, ask her why. Everyone has a reason." Jiraiya said, placing his hand behind his back. "And no matter how much she acts like she doesn't care, she's hurting inside too." Shizune was quiet the whole time, listening to the two talk about the most important woman in her life. She pulled her hand away from Jiriaya's neck, and apologized on Tsunade's behalf.

"Don't worry, when the alcohol leaves her system, we're going to discuss her terms as Hokage."

She smiled slightly, and then called out "Come on TonTon, lets go. Thank you Jiriaya-sama." Quickly following her voice, a small pink pig emerged from under the area they were eating at. In its mouth was one of Naruto's ramen noodles. Naruto stared at the pig, wondering why the hell he hadn't noticed it, or why there would be a pig following Shizune, but wrote it off as one of a persons many quirks. After all, he had a teacher that read porn novels in front of children. Pigs couldn't be all bad…right?

"Naruto, except for maybe chakra amounts, she is far more powerful than you. She has more experience, more strength, more techniques, and skills than you."

The blond stayed quiet as he listened. "You will never be able to trick her, no matter how hard you try. How do you plan on beating her?"

Jiraiya shook his head and sighed at his new student's silence. "Come along Naruto; let's go find you a new kunai pouch and set." The old man began to get up and stretch, before beckoning Naruto to follow.

"You do know that I have complete faith in you right?" He said.

At those words, Naruto looked at his teacher and smiled.

XXXXX

The events of the previous night had come and gone in their memories, and they now took a friendly stroll down through the city.

Tsunade and Jiraiya began walking down the street early in the morning, with Jiraiya intent on learning of his old student. Tsunade had a cold compress, placing it against her temples, trying to stave off the migraine.

"How far had she progressed?" Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade glanced at her teammate before looking straight ahead towards the market place. Shops in the area were just opening, and many of the venders began to display their produce, despite what happened last night.

"She couldn't learn how to use my strength, but she did learn a few other things from me." Said the Sannin. "I don't know about you Jiraiya, but she's a little killing machine, and she has only one goal. Chakra scalpels, poison techniques, I mean, she even knows the human body as well as a Hyuuga. If she focused less on killing, and more on healing, she'd be even better than me."

Jiraiya frowned at those words, and looked towards the ground.

"Jiraiya, what is she training for? Her skill level is beyond any kid her age. Even more than your 'normal' ninja. Just what does she want?"

He raised his head, feeling regret for what he had done; for training her and breeding her to become the best; to become the child of legend.

And now this child had become something else. Something that he wished he could find the will to stop.

"Revenge."

XXXXX

8.8k words.

Review please.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again.

XXXXX

"Revenge."

Tsunade pulled off her cold compress and narrowed her eyes at her former teammate. "What do you mean? What could have caused her to take this path in her life?"

Jiraiya and Tsunade walked to a small shop and ordered themselves tea before he glanced back at her.

"She's after the one person who deprived her of her family." He said, taking his tea that was just served to him and sipping it. "She feels that she must, for the sake of her family, and for the sake of her honor."

The woman sighed and began to drink her own beverage. "She's after the Nine Tails' Container huh?" Tsunade glanced down and closed her eyes. "How did she find out? I thought that it was a secret that Sensei strictly enforced." The migraine began to subside and she felt herself feeling better.

There was no way Natsuki should have found out. It was a closely guarded secret and there was simply no way she should have learned of it, unless… "The Daimyo told her huh?" Tsunade said annoyed. "He told her, and now she's become like this. Damn it all."

Her teammate nodded. "Yeah, after he told her, she confronted me as to why I kept it a secret. I tried to explain that Naruto wasn't a demon, that he was a container, and it's best if less people knew about it." Jiraiya took another sip. "Of course, she didn't listen to me, and I kept training her until she turned old enough to go to you for guidance."

Tsunade's eyes opened slightly in realization, "You mean that kid is the container? The idiotic blonde?"

"Yeah, he's the one, and I don't know what to do. I hope to just teach him and help him defend himself against his sister, but I don't know if we have enough time." He bit his lip and felt worry. "I've taught her almost everything I know, and her mother and father left behind so many techniques and secrets for her, and to make it worse, there is the training you gave her and the training the Daimyo added to hers."

She felt worried about how this would end, trying to think of a way to resolve the conflict. "Maybe you should tell her? About everything, maybe then she'll understand."

"No." He couldn't do that. Not with her fragile mental state, not with her unhealthy obsession. There would be other ways to fix this. He just couldn't think of any now. "She can't handle the truth; I'll think of another way, I just need some time."

"You're a shitty Godfather, you do know that right?"

Jiraiya gulped the remaining contents of his tea and stood up. "You've got the bill this time Tsunade." He said casually, waving his hand away and strolling away. "Also, get ready for Naruto, he might surprise you later, you never know just how damn good someone is when their dreams are on the line."

The Slug Sannin sighed and paid the bill, watching as her old friend walked out of sight as he turned a corner.

"You idiot." She stated and ordered some early morning sake. She closed her eyes and remembered the events of yesterday afternoon, after being greeted by a certain Snake.

'He couldn't.' The woman thought, remembering the offer. 'No one can bring back the dead, no matter what.'

The owner came by and dropped off a warm cup of sake, curious as to why anyone would drink this early.

She grasped the sake cup in front of her and swallowed quickly before closing her eyes and feeling tears begin to form.

'The dead can't come back.'

XXXXX

Deep within the forests bordering Tanzaku town, a pair of Oto Ninjas set up their camp and waited.

"Lord Orochimaru, do you really think that Lady Tsunade will really heal your arms?" Kabuto questioned. Did Orochimaru really think that woman would be capable of succeeding where he failed?

"Kabuto, she is the greatest medic in the world, and I do not give praise lightly. Many of the techniques you use are created by my former teammate. Even your coveted Chakra Scalpels are a byproduct of her many techniques. Do not underestimate this woman, even for a second. She's a Sannin for a reason."

Adjusting his glasses, he smirked, "Yes Lord Orochimaru."

"Her desire to see her loved ones will cloud her judgment greatly, she may be a ninja, but she has had quite a bit of heartache. With nothing else to live for, she will gladly make a deal with us."

Soon, his arms would be healed, and he could continue his planning and strategizing against his home village and Akatsuki. It was only a matter of time.

Only a matter of time.

XXXXX

In a small clearing in the forest, nearly a mile away from the town, Naruto continued to practice his skills.

He grasped his Kunai in a reverse grip and leapt forward, toward the mass of clones. There were only two dozen left, but at this rate, they would be more than enough for him.

Naruto ducked under a kick and stabbed the exposed clone in the groin, causing it to disperse. Two more clones already moved forward, one hoping to kick the crouched Naruto while the other ran behind him. The kick came crashing down on the real Naruto as he used his shoulder and hands to hold off the attack. Quickly bringing his kunai up, he slashed at the femoral artery in the thigh, causing a fatal wound to the clone.

The one behind Naruto kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground. On his back, Naruto saw his clone pull out its own kunai and bring it down towards his neck. Reacting quickly, Naruto threw his own blade and lodged it into the throat of the clone, dispelling it.

He got up quickly and saw that nearly a dozen clones were charging him quickly, all with their own weapons out.

Leaping back, Naruto formed a fireball and proceeded to make the area into a hellfire. Nearly half of the attackers died in the blaze, and the rest proceeded to drop their weapons and get into a taijutsu stance. The all glared daggers at Naruto, and all had to pick a bone with him.

Smirking at his doppelgangers, he got into his own form and glared at them. He closed his eyes and felt his left fist flood with chakra before forcing his chakra into a flame element.

The clones quickly glanced at one another before picking up their dropped kunai, deciding that the match was unfair. If he wanted to use his fire element, they got to use their weapons.

One jumped into the air, while the rest charged him, all wielding their own kunai.

Naruto charged forward and decided to meet his enemy head on. The lead clone swiped at Naruto's head, but he quickly ducked under it and proceeded to punch the clone in the stomach, causing the whole thing to quickly ignite into an inferno as the fire from his fists transferred onto the clone.

He glanced at it curiously before two more clones charged him. He growled, and pushed chakra into his legs, causing his speed to double. Too fast for the clones, they could only watch in shock as he rushed them with a massive grin on his face.

He extended both of his arms and leveled them towards their necks.

"Double Lariat!"

He continued to grin as he noticed both of their heads fly off before dispersing.

The rest of the clones took a step back and dropped their weapons. Annoyed, Naruto shouted at them. "Damn it guys, don't act so scared! It's not like you're dead for long!"

The copies just shook their heads and one after another, they dispersed themselves until there was one left.

"Cowards!" said the blond, annoyed by himself. Remembering how the one clone burst into flames, he wanted to experiment.

Naruto beckoned the last clone over and Naruto ignited his hand once again. He saw how the clone burst into flame and was completely curious. Just how was it so easy to set him on fire?

Simply, he touched the clone and watched as the flames traveled from his hand and move onto the clone. As if the whole thing was made of wood, he watched how in a few seconds, the clone was devoured in flames before it was dispersed.

Due to the fact that the Shadow Clones were made entirely of chakra, he realized that they were easily ignited from his jutsu.

Interesting.

"Enjoying yourself, Naruto?"

The boy pulled out his kunai only to remember that he threw it and lost it. He felt himself relax a when his mind began to recognize the voice. "Jiraiya Sensei!"

Chuckling to himself, he enjoyed being called that. It brought out so many old memories and was making new ones every day. The boy embodied everything that a ninja should stand for. He wouldn't fuck this up. Not like he did with Natsuki.

"Naruto, I've brought you breakfast." He said, pulling out a cup of ramen he had hidden behind himself.

Naruto glanced at Jiraiya, feeling strange inside.

Silence passed over the clearing as Naruto looked at his teacher. This was a man who believed in him; the only one since Iruka Sensei and Hokage Sensei. Naruto stood still and just continued to glance at Jiraiya.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was worried if he offended the boy. He didn't want to do anything wrong by Naruto, but he didn't expect himself to be rushed by the young man and knocked to the ground. Naruto wrapped his arms around the Sannin and held tightly, hugging him with all his strength.

Jiraiya dropped the ramen and noticed that Naruto didn't care. Naruto just held onto him and buried his face into his chest. Suddenly, he heard crying and he looked down. The boy was crying and holding him tightly, and Jiraiya just closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around him.

"Wh-why do you believe in me? Why d-d-do you care so much about me?" Naruto whimpered. This was the third person in his life that believed in him, and he didn't even know anything about this man. His life was spent watching and wondering what it was like. What it was like to have a family, to know what it was like to be loved. In this past year, he finally felt what it was like to have love. He had an older brother in Iruka, a grandfather in the Old Man, and now, he felt like he finally had a father figure in his life. One who would teach him and guide him to be the best person he could be in life.

Jiraiya lay on his back and held the boy closely, closing his eyes and sighing. He never had children. When he was younger, during the Second Shinobi World War, he had himself caught and lost the opportunity.

It was a solo mission, and his job was to simply observe the enemy camp. Unfortunately, he didn't expect himself to be caught so easily. The camp was large and directly on the border with Iwagakure, an excellent staging ground for an assault.

During this time, the emergence of sensor ninja began to change the way war was fought. They were able to immediately detect ninja in the area and alert their allies, making themselves valuable. Half way through the war, his own village started to send out Hyuuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame as their own sensor ninja

Most of the clans and ninja with bloodlines would stay back and defend the village. Clan less and common soldiers were sent out to do all the dirty work, making them nothing more than pawns to the clans. He wasn't fooled in the slightest in who held power in the village at that time. Clans still control much of the village today.

After he had himself caught, he was still just a grunt at that time. Sure, he was a Jounin, but when surrounded completely by two dozen ninja, he really couldn't do much of anything. They placed him in a tent and tied him to a chair for interrogation.

For days they tortured him, trying to get what information they wanted out of him. Peeling off the skin on his back and driving screws into his skin, he kept his mouth shut and tried his best not to scream.

They eventually cut off his testicles to try to convince him to talk, but Jiraiya was still too goddamn loyal to Konoha.

He wouldn't give up the patrol routes for his village, enabling the enemy to easily slip into his home. After nearly two weeks of torture, his two teammates killed off the entire enemy camp of nearly two dozen Shinobi in one night.

He wouldn't forget the look of disgust Orochimaru had for him when they found him tied to the chair with half his skin flayed off and different parts of his body mutilated. When Tsunade found him, she nearly broke down crying, but quickly composed herself and began to heal her battered teammate. It took nearly two days, but luckily he healed quickly.

When they returned to the village, he remembered being depressed for a whole month, feeling like he had no future left. Even if he survived the war, he had no way to continue on his blood. He had just turned twenty only a few months prior.

He and Tsunade had spent a lot of time together, and while they used sex to blow steam off and get closer, he eventually broke it off with her. He couldn't force her to stay with him. Most ninja started families early in their lives due to the fact that not many of them often survive. They'd start to pair off and have two or three children before retiring. Often times, most ninja would start their families in their late teens.

Still, Naruto was now his own. The boy was his responsibility and duty, and he was damn sure that this kid would grow up to be Hokage. Jiraiya was a lousy man, that he was sure of, but Naruto was something that he felt his life was made for.

Jiraiya began to feel his shirt become a little moist, and smiled slightly. Naruto knew pain, just like he did. Naruto and Jiraiya were really two sides of the same damnable coin. No matter what, they would always be down on their luck and they would never be allowed to have it easy.

He sighed slightly and began to get up, gently pushing Naruto off of himself. Now was not the time to be reminiscing. The Sannin got on one knee and stood Naruto up in front of himself.

"Listen Naruto, this is important." The young man looked into the eyes of the older one and listened raptly. "When you were younger, do you remember the Will of Fire? I'm sure they told you of it in the Academy?"

Naruto shook his head in agreement. How could he forget it? The Hokage personally came down to tell everyone of it.

"Fuck it." Jiraiya said suddenly. Naruto was taken back by it and was surprised by the bluntness of the statement.

"Why? I thought all ninja were to carry the Will of Fire and-"

"Naruto, I need you to understand something very important, something that you will need to realize now more that anything."

He shook his head in understanding and quieted himself.

"No matter what you call it, it's still an excuse. Some call it religion, some call it ideals, some say for peace, and for some, it's just because of greed. However you look at it, it's all an excuse for killing people. The Will of Fire is just an excuse as well."

Naruto felt something in his stomach turn, as though his whole world was upside down, like someone had taken all the ideals Naruto was raised with by the village and stepped all over them.

"The Will of Fire seems noble to you and seems to be the right thing in your eyes, but let's say someone killed others in the name of their god? How is it really any different than our villages' ideals?"

Naruto tried to open his mouth, but he couldn't form the words. As he thought of it, it really was simply a justification for killing people. That's all.

"The village has a duty to brainwash all of its' soldiers and give them a meaning for their lives. If you were raised to kill because someone's ideas disagreed with yours, who do you blame?"

Jiraiya took in the boys shaken visage and felt bad. He needed to do this though; he needed to prevent Naruto from falling, to prevent himself from ever questioning his own beliefs. He was at an age where he could be easily impressed by anything, and if an enemy's idea appealed to him more than Konoha's, he needed to teach Naruto how to think for himself.

"Naruto, I don't want you to follow the Will of Fire, and I don't want to pass on my own Will of Fire to you. Naruto, I want you to do whatever you want."

The Jinchuriki crooked an eyebrow and frowned, "What do you mean? Like make up my own rules for living?"

"Exactly, but I don't want you to become blinded by the ideals of the village, or the ideals of anyone else for that matter. I want you to learn and develop your own set of rules, one that is not influenced by anyone, not me, and not the village."

Frowning, he looked at his teacher, trying to figure out why he was telling him this. "Why?"

"Because I have reason to believe Naruto, that you will change the world completely and utterly, and only you can do it, not the ideas of people before you, or the hopes and dreams of those who have died. No, I want YOU to do it with your own ideas, dreams, and hopes. Naruto, right now, all of my hopes, dreams, and ideas are in you. I have faith in you."

He was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer, not sure what to make of all of this. This was something that he'd never heard anyone say to him before.

"Come on Naruto; let's go get some more ramen."

XXXXX

The week had come and gone, and Naruto had spent all of his time training with Jiraiya. As they sparred, Naruto realized that out of everyone he had ever sparred with before, Jiraiya and the Hokage were clearly two of the best. Every time Naruto tried to make up a new combination of attacks, new sneaking strategies, or clever jutsu combos, Jiraiya easily sidestepped, blocked, or countered each of them with ease, as though he had seen them performed a thousand times.

As the man continued to teach his many skills to Naruto, he promised that if he managed to beat Tsunade, he'd teach the boy one of his prized jutsu.

With that kind of motivation, Naruto physically improved, feeling that he was mentally capable of beating Tsunade, no matter what the cost.

Now, the only thing left was making the woman eat her words.

XXXXX

It was the day; the day of the battle between newly promoted Chuunin Naruto Uzamaki, and the Senju Tsunade.

Jiraiya left Naruto in the hotel room, allowing the boy to sleep for a little longer, and leaving behind a brand new set of Kunai and Shuriken. He'd love to see how the kid would react to it, but he had business to take care of.

Tsunade glanced down the market street and saw the Toad Sage strolling towards her. Just as she predicted.

Many of the villagers were busy; trade in this city after all was its life blood.

Jiraiya pulled up a chair next to her in the small stand noticed the cup of tea steaming next to her. "Expecting company Princess?" He chuckled, grasping the drink and sipping calmly.

"Don't call me Princess. You haven't called me that in years, now isn't a time to start."

He smiled at her took another sip. "You know, Naruto has been training nonstop. I'd be a little worried if I were you."

She flicked her hair back and sighed "I'm not too worried, in the end, he's just a kid. I've seen just about everything kids can throw at me."

Glancing at her old teammate, she remembered just how old she really was.

"Remember when we finally managed to push back the Stone and force them into their homeland? Sand signed a truce with us that year. They managed to strike the Stone village and retreated back so we could flank them from the opposite side. I remember that small village we had to go to, full of refugees from Konoha."

She stared at the table and Jiraiya took another sip, nodding his head. "Yeah, I remember that."

"Remember the order from the top later that day?"

Jiraiya placed his cup down. "Yeah. I remember that too."

The order was to kill any defectors from Konoha. It was very simple and very direct.

As people fled from Konoha, some people had bloodlines, however diluted their bloodlines were, and many were from minor clans. Having a bloodline fall into enemy hands was simply unacceptable.

The war in the beginning wasn't going well, and Konoha was losing the war quite badly. People felt the need to flee Konoha because the entire land was turning into a battleground.

Coming to the village, they demanded that all men, women, and children from the Land of Fire step forward. When the village wouldn't give up their comrades, they had no choice but to kill everyone in it. The men died first, and then the children. Unfortunately, many of the women didn't get a quick death.

She remembered the sounds of rape. She remembered how her comrades would rape several women and talk to her as though nothing happened the next day; As though she were an equal, regardless of her gender.

When the men were done with the women, they proceeded to kill them. She remembered how many times they would call out to her for help, pleading her, but she just recalled how she chuckled at their cries. She recalled standing over Orochimaru and watching him do it a young girl, in her early teens.

To her disgust, she remembered herself cheering him on and laughing, telling him to fuck her harder. Later on that night, she and Orochimaru fucked as well.

The leaders in Konoha knew all about it, they knew about the reports, they knew everything, but they didn't do a damn thing about it, after all, who cared? They were traitors.

After the war ended and everyone had to go back to their 'normal' lives, we really started to realize what happened. The guilt set in, and the horrors of what they did began to seep into their souls. Many of them killed themselves, being granted a swift mercy from the terror that many of the survivors had to endure to this day.

'War was so stressful' she told herself, and the only way to cope was either by drugs, sex, or your friends. Often times, sex with your friends was the most common way ninja blew off steam. Tsunade herself had often slept with Orochimaru and Jiraiya to ease herself, but after Jiraiya was captured and tortured in the beginning of the war, he pushed her away, and isolated himself from the others.

They could have had so much together, but they grew apart and she turned into a bitter old bitch while Jiraiya continued on with his life, making new students, friends, and enjoying what was left of his life. She would never admit it, but Jiraiya was the only person in the world whom she held so much respect for that it hurt.

That night, when they had the order to kill the village, he just cried. Jiraiya, the one who killed hundreds and was considered to be one of the most powerful Shinobi in the Konoha army, sobbed like a baby. Even when Orochimaru held a knife to his throat and ordered him to kill, Jiraiya just fell on his knees and cried.

After everyone went to sleep, she and a few other ninja were assigned to patrol the camp. In the morning, they were to burn the bodies and continue on their path to the Stone Capital.

To her surprise, she found Jiraiya, who was supposed to be sleeping, gather all of the bodies. Through the whole night, nearly 200 bodies were gathered and placed in the center of the village. She didn't feel anything at the time and simply believed that he was losing it. It was common for ninja to go crazy from the carnage and devastation of war. At the time, she thought it was weak and pathetic.

He placed them all in the center of town and crossed their arms over their chests and made a quick prayer; bowing before the corpse before moving to the next one. Each one was prayed for, and each one had their eyes closed and arms crossed.

Outside, there was a small pile of children and newborns, nearly thirty, all gathered in a pile. Jiraiya sat down next to it for the rest of the night and just stared. Unmoving, he sat in front of the bodies, and continued to stare. When dawn came, Tsunade hadn't realized that she had been looking at him all night, watching him. She didn't realize it until later, but she lost her humanity after the war, like the rest of her friends and family.

Afterwards, Jiraiya was different. He wasn't the man he used to be and that scared her, so she started looking for other men and found Dan, who healed her broken heart. Meanwhile, as she found happiness and joy in Dan, Jiraiya found spiritual enlightenment and became a Toad Sage.

She couldn't even look Orochimaru in the eyes after they were done with the war.

"That wasn't the best of times, was it?" Jiraiya said simply, staring at his cup which was now cold. He drank the rest of it and sighed. "I don't blame you Tsunade. I can't. Not after everything I've seen."

"I'm going to tell Naruto everything. Not all at once of course, but I'm going to tell him everything. I'm going to tell him of the wars we had, the people I've killed. I'm going to tell him what happened in that village. I'm going to tell him everything. Even about his heritage."

She glanced at him and shook her head. "What will you do if he hates us for what we did? What if he stops talking to you and leaves us forever?"

The Toad Sage placed a hand behind his head and grinned. "I have faith in him." He said confidently. "He will be the one to change this world after all. For better or worse, he will be the one to change the ninja world."

Tsunade couldn't believe what she was hearing. Jiraiya was one of the most powerful men she ever knew and he was placing all of his faith into Naruto. Why him? Why this child? It wasn't fair. She stood up and Jiraiya followed suit.

"Sorry about the drink." She said off handedly. Placing a small bill on the counter.

Jiraiya immediately figured out what she meant and sat down, feeling his chakra being disrupted and being produced irregularly. Damn, only she could have done this. He couldn't taste or sense it at all. She was still sharp in her skills with poisons.

"I made a deal with Orochimaru." She said.

His eyes widened and he glared at her angrily. "Oh? Is that so? What did he offer you Tsunade?" He chuckled bitterly, "Knowing him and how he thinks, he probably mentioned Dan or Nawaki to you huh?"

She was quiet and didn't reply to him, answering his question.

"Tsunade, please, don't do this." He begged.

Tsunade stood up and began to walk away while Jiraiya lost feeling in his legs. "I'm going to take it away from him Jiraiya. That dream he seems to have, he doesn't deserve it."

The Toad Sage stopped struggling "Don't you dare." He growled at her.

She started to walk away and didn't look back at him. Not daring to look at the man. At the Sannin who was seething in anger. He fell to the ground and struggled to get back up.

"TSUNADE, DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS!"

XXXXX

Sitting in the field, Naruto calmly waited. He needed to wait for Tsunade and show her who was boss. He felt sore from his week of training, but at least his Sensei had given him an awesome new weapons pouch.

It was one of the best gifts he'd received in years. Probably one of the only gifts too.

Feeling a slight change in the air, he opened his eyes and saw Tsunade standing in front of him. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking at him with hatred.

Naruto felt the killing intent and steeled himself. He'd felt many different kinds of it Killing intent, but this was one he could really feel, down to his soul. This wasn't something to just intimidate the enemy, this was something aimed directly at him and everything he stood for. He finally felt what true hatred was, and it terrified him.

He took a step back and was about to run before he remembered his most powerful enemy.

Kisame was a man who plagued Naruto's mind constantly. Everything about the man screamed terror. No matter how powerful you were, how strong you were, no matter who you were, you were always shit in his eyes. To Naruto, Kisame was the ultimate rival; A man without a rival.

He stopped himself from finishing his step, and instead walked forward, glaring daggers at Tsunade.

"Oh, it's a good thing you came. I was worried you weren't going to show." Naruto said cockily. Inside, he was squirming. This was going to be hard.

"Who the fuck do you think you are kid?" Tsunade spat angrily. "Do you honestly feel that you can stand up to me? I've killed so many, so many people, and you decide to challenge me!"

She punched the ground and the immediate area was shattered. The ground Naruto stood on collapsed and turned into rubble beneath his feet. He managed to balance himself atop the destroyed earth, only to see Tsunade appear right in front of him and punch him hard in the face.

And what a punch it was.

He felt himself smash into the ground, embedding his body into the ground 5 feet deep. Naruto felt more pain than he had in a long time. Struggling, he pulled himself out of the hole and stared at the woman in front of himself, standing atop a boulder.

"W-wow, you're a real angry bitch." Naruto wheezed, chuckling at her. "I hope I don't turn out like you when I get old."

He spat up some blood and continued to crawl out of the hole before struggling to his feet. "I don't give a shit about what happened to you and whatever sob story you have."

He placed on foot in front of the other, grinning like a madman. "I don't care about why you run away from your problems."

Naruto straightened his back and stood tall, glaring at her. "I'm bringing your ass back to Konoha so you can be our fucking Hokage."

She watched as he continued to walk forward, listening to him scold her and talk down on her like she was trash. It infuriated her greatly. Why did he get to have a dream? Why did he deserve it?

Tsunade felt something inside of her break, something that needed to be released, and she had only one way to do it.

She screamed. For so long, she kept it inside, forcing herself to shed a few tears and continue on with her shitty existence, never having a good excuse to live. Then this child shows up and he turns everything upside down. It wasn't fair. Why did he get to have a dream and she didn't?

"My oh my Tsunade, what do we have here?" A voice said.

From the forest bordering their field, Orochimaru appeared, and by his side Kabuto. The two snakes glanced at the two combatants and Kabuto smiled when he saw Naruto. Waving his hand, he greeted Naruto nonchalantly. "Hey Naruto, long time no see."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion and felt a sharp pain in his neck. He winced and Kabuto took notice of it. Orochimaru walked over to Tsunade and began to discuss the terms in which his arms would be healed, and how he'd pay her back.

Kabuto meanwhile walked over to Naruto and his hand glowed with a familiar healing jutsu. After a few seconds, Naruto felt better than he had in a week. He thanked Kabuto and walked away from the boy. It was obvious that the friendly Kabuto was in with Orochimaru.

The blonde watched the exchange and wondered just what was going on. Was Tsunade working with that fucking snake? The one who killed the old man? Naruto felt anger towards Orochimaru and felt his own hatred rising.

The only thing keeping him from attacking was the fact that Orochimaru was a Sannin. If he was even half as good a Jiraiya, Naruto still wouldn't stand a chance. He'd bide his time and wait patiently.

He observed how Orochimaru's arms were bandaged, and he could only assume that the Third managed to do it.

Good.

Figuring it all out, Naruto realized that the Snake was here to have his arms fixed, after all, what other reason could there be for him being here?

If she agreed to it, he'd run over there and kill them all or die trying. There was no way in hell he was going to have a Hokage who did deals with that Snake. He'd make sure of it.

Unfortunately, his horror began to come alive when he realized that she was going to heal him. Her palms grew green and she looked downcast and defeated. Far from the woman who had just beat his ass a moment ago.

He pulled out a Kunai and began to walk forward, intending this to not proceed any further.

Suddenly, Kabuto pushed Orochimaru back and pulled his fist back, ready to punch Tsunade in the face.

"What is the meaning of this!" Hissed Orochimaru. "Why did you do that Kabuto?"

Tsunade blocked his punch and leapt backwards.

"Sorry Lord Orochimaru, but she had no intention of healing you. She would have killed you if I had not stopped her." Grinning, Orochimaru chuckled lightly. "Thank you Kabuto. It appears that Lady Tsunade has no desire to see her loved ones in life. Let's send her to them in death then!"

Kabuto pulled out a kunai and slashed the bandages on Orochimaru's arms, exposing summoning Tattoos. He used the tip of his kunai and cut his thumb, quickly smearing the blood across it.

"**Summoning Technique!"**

A large puff of smoke emerged over the field and a large three headed snake formed into existence. The beast quickly glanced at the two opponents and glared deeply at them.

Tsunade however was already prepared for them. "Naruto! Sink that thing!" She shouted over to him. She needed to have faith in his abilities.

Naruto felt his blood freeze at the sight of such a monster, but he quickly composed himself. He formed the seals without fail and gathered as much chakra as he could to his palms.

"**Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!**"

The area under the snake turned into a massive swamp, and immediately, the entire beast began to sink in seconds. It coiled and attempted to swim out of the death trap, but no matter how hard it moved, there was no escaping. Within a few seconds, the entire beast was under the ground.

"Kill him Kabuto!" Orochimaru growled angrily as he turned towards Tsunade. "I hope you're prepared for death Tsunade."

XXXXX

Obliging his master, he turned towards Naruto and grinned happily. "It's been a while since the fight in the Chuunin exams." He smirked wider. "You do know that you have no chance, right Naruto?"

Kabuto charged, his own Kunai in hand, ready to slash Naruto's neck. Naruto however, was just as equally prepared.

Naruto knew that Kabuto was good, he just didn't know how good. He needed to gauge his skills to know what he was up against, so the younger boy played on the defensive, constantly retreating and moving backwards. Seeming weaker than the older boy, but enough to hold his own.

Naruto blocked the strikes of his opponent's kunai with his own, matching each attack. Kabuto flipped grips and held the knife in a reverse grip, coming down with a stabbing motion onto Naruto's skull. The blonde quickly leapt backwards, attempting to get out of the way, only to find his legs being held onto by an underground clone.

'Shit!' He thought as the blade continued its decent. There was no way to block. Thinking quickly, he grasped the blade of his own Kunai and held it backwards. Gripping Kabuto's wrist with his free hand, he made the tip of Kabuto's Kunai enter the back ring of his own.

He turned the blade at an awkward angle while the Kunai was still caught and to his surprise, Kabuto's grip slipped off of the knife. The older boy was surprised and kicked Naruto away from himself. When did he learn that?

"That was quite impressive Naruto!" He said as he watched the boy reverse grip both Kunai after getting up. "You certainly have picked up a few new tricks."

Naruto still observed that Kabuto had that shit eating grin of his and growled slightly. He still thought Naruto wasn't that much of a threat. Then again, maybe that was a good thing.

The Jinchuuriki ran forward, and observed that Kabuto pulled out another Kunai.

Turning quickly, Naruto felt the Earth clone being formed behind him, and sliced its head of with one motion of his blade.

Kabuto meanwhile took advantage of Naruto's slight distraction and charged, hoping to hit the boy while his back was turned. As he continued to run, he felt the ground beneath himself shake, and realized that Naruto was trying to pull him under.

Jumping in the air, he watched as a clone emerged from the ground, missing him by inches.

Being exposed in the air, Kabuto realized that Naruto had planned that all out. Looking down, he saw both thrown kunai at the same time, the two blades quickly coming. He raised his own weapon and blocked one of the Kunai, but was too slow to stop the other one. Grunting, the other Kunai pierced his right lung, the entire blade going straight through bone and muscle.

Falling, he landed on his back, and Naruto felt himself relax a bit.

"I-i-mpressive Naruto." Kabuto wheezed out. "I-I undere-estimated you."

Naruto felt bad for a moment, realizing that he just took another life, and this time, it was someone that he knew. He began to feel slightly queasy and his stomach turned. Killing will never be easy. It never should.

As the blonde began to turn, he heard chuckling. "Don't think it's over so easily Naruto."

He turned back and saw Kabuto begin to rise, much to Naruto's horror. Kabuto reached up and widened his eyes when he saw how deep the blade was. He grasped the handle, and with a quick yank, pulled the weapon free from his chest.

The child could only watch in morbid fascination as the wound began to close and his opponent took a deep breath. "Don't expect anymore freebies Naruto." He said as he licked his blood off of his own Kunai.

Naruto ducked quickly as Kabuto hurled the weapon and missed his head by inches. Finding himself at a disadvantage, Naruto could only charge at Kabuto who still kept smirking that same fucking smirk.

Striking at his head, the older boy blocked Naruto's punch and brought his knee up to the Blondes head. Naruto placed both hands down and caught the knee, before drop kicking Kabuto's single leg, knocking him to the ground.

Finding himself falling, the Oto ninja quickly performed several hand seals and sank into the ground, leaving Naruto up top by himself.

He gazed around and realized that he was easily exposed up here. Placing his fingers in a cross position, he called forth his next jutsu. "**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**"

The area filled up with clones and began to walk around carefully, watching the ground for any chance that Kabuto would attack soon. He was being serious now. This was now life or death.

Naruto was feeling quite nervous, after all, Kabuto had just healed after having his lung destroyed. Glancing around, Naruto began to notice hundreds of feathers float around him. Realizing the technique, Naruto felt himself begin to fall asleep, as though even if he was fighting, everything was going to be okay as long as he fell asleep.

He watched as his clones began to fall over and 'poof' away and felt worried. This was a Genjutsu! He didn't know how to fight against genjutsu!

Slowly, his legs gave out from under him and his eyes felt heavy. 'Damn it!' he groaned mentally. He needed to get out of this and there was only one way.

He struggled to reach into his weapons pouch and pulled out a Shuriken before cutting his thigh with a quick slash. The sudden pain immediately made his eyes widen in shock and he felt the sleepiness leave him immediately. What was he doing?

Several feet from him, the ground tore apart and Kabuto stood before him once again. "Oh my Naruto, that was quite impressive. If I recall, last time you fell into that one."

Kabuto sighed sadly before he smiled slightly. "I think it's time to end this quickly."

Holding his hands in front of himself, Naruto observed as they both began to glow blue. "These are Chakra Scalpels, Naruto." He showed both of his hand to the boy. "With one touch I can sever muscles, tendons, even bone."

Now Naruto began to feel worried. That wasn't very good news to hear. Naruto gripped his wrist and concentrated feeling his hand begin that familiar warm feeling. Raising his right hand, his hand glowed from the flames. Pulling out a Kunai, Naruto grasped it with his free hand.

"My, my Naruto, seems like you learned some new techniques?" Kabuto said happily. "I was worried that this wasn't going to be as I'd hoped!"

The two rushed each other, knowing that this was now life or death. This wasn't friendly and joking anymore and both knew it. Only one of them would come out of this. They also knew that their techniques were deadly, and if either of them struck with their respective jutsu, that would be the end of it.

Naruto threw his fist forward, hoping it hit the younger boy in the face with his fire, only for Kabuto to duck beneath and strike towards Naruto's heart. Seeing that his chest was exposed, Naruto quickly brought down the kunai with his other hand and watched as Kabuto pulled his hand back, throwing his other fist forward.

The blonde was already prepared however and brought his fist back down towards Kabuto, intending to strike Kabuto in the chest. The older boy leapt back and was surprised by Naruto's counterattack before reaching into his pouch and pulling out a Shuriken and throwing it hard.

Thinking quickly, Naruto threw his own Kunai at the incoming projectile and deflected it away. Seeing that Naruto lost one of his weapons, Kabuto returned back into the fight, and threw one of his hands forward, to cut the jugular in his opponents neck. With his free hand, Naruto grasped Kabuto's wrist as it was only an inch away from his neck, and used his flaming fist to punch Kabuto in the face.

Kabuto deactivated the jutsu in his free hand and grasped Naruto's wrist as well. Both of them holding the others jutsu only inches from their bodies.

Struggling, Kabuto tried to push his technique into Naruto's neck while Naruto tried to hit Kabuto's face. Both of them knew it only took one touch for their lives to end. One single hit and it was over.

Naruto felt the sweat from his brow as he kept trying to push forward, desperate to end this. He felt the energy from the attack, and knew that he was literally only an inch from death. Kabuto felt the same as well.

"Isn't this amazing Naruto!" Kabuto panted, never before coming this close to death. "The rush, the thrill!" His voice was shaking with slight fear and excitement.

Still, he kept exerting as much strength as possible, trying break the other boys grip and end this. Naruto was feeling tired, but he kept pushing, kept trying. He couldn't end it like this! He couldn't die! Not when someone new had finally believed in him!

He needed to figure out how to end this!

Suddenly he realized something. Naruto needed to keep his hand straight in order activate the jutsu. When he grasped his hand, the jutsu deactivated. So what if…

Naruto held on as tight as he could, keeping on this much strength would tire him out in moments, but it was all he needed.

Moving his leg, he stepped hard onto Kabuto's foot, causing him to grunt as he felt several of his toes break. 'What a mistake' Kabuto thought as he realized that Naruto was slightly off balance now, this would be over in a few seconds now. 'It's over.'

And indeed it was.

To his surprise, he felt the fire in front of his face stop and he gazed curiously at Naruto for a moment before he felt chakra begin to be gathered again. Except this time, it was in his opposite hand.

Naruto's hand burst into flames and traveled onto Kabuto's hand.

Due to the nature of the Chakra Scalpels being comprised mainly of chakra, the flames fed off of the energy, causing a massive inferno on Kabuto's hand.

He felt himself get kicked in the chest and knocked several feet back, but he didn't pay too much attention as he saw the chakra flames quickly spread onto his arm and the rest of his body.

He didn't have a chance to scream as his whole body was burned to hell. His whole body was constantly using chakra, to heal and restore his cells and muscles, causing him to never feel too tired or weak.

With such an active amount of chakra in his system, he realized that his body was just fuel for the technique.

XXXXX

Naruto felt himself begin to wind down and he took a breath to calm himself.

Kabuto was still writhing on the ground, his flesh completely charred and his hair was gone. That was not a way to die in Naruto's opinion. Kabuto's corpse was completely black, and his eyeballs had melted out, leaving two bloody hollows where his eyes used to be. With his lips gone, he appeared to be smiling. Dying how he lived, smiling at him.

The blonde knew that the moment he saw the wound heal on Kabuto, chakra had to be involved in his recovery.

As he glanced around, he still saw the two Sannin fighting, both of them fighting at speeds Naruto imagined were impossible for normal humans. He could barely keep up with them. Jiraiya was clearly holding back.

As he took a step forward to help out Tsunade in any way he could, Naruto felt his neck explode in pain.

He reached up and found a large gaping hole where his flesh used to be in his neck and realized that much of it was torn out. Shocked, he slowly turned behind himself and found true terror still behind him.

Kabuto was still alive, a blackened body still grinning as Naruto observed his flesh between the teeth of his enemy. Kabuto slowly chewed it before Naruto heard it coming from him.

The thing was laughing at him.

Naruto felt his vision begin to blur, and he knew that he was going to die. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out one of his explosive tags threw it at the thing before jumping back as far as he could. With a flash of his chakra, he detonated the tag and watched the creature become engulfed in flames. Naruto could still hear the chuckling and see wide grin of Kabuto in his mind.

The explosion removed everything, and nothing was left but several broken bones.

Naruto was sure he was now dead.

Now his problem was that he was dying. Naruto felt his blood flow freely, and he turned his head to watch Tsunade gaze back at him, her eyes wide with shock.

Was this really how it was going to end?

XXXXX

How was it? Sure, it was a little mushy, but I felt it was important enough to be included. If anyone thought that Kabuto was being a little too helpful, he always does crap like that. No real reason why also.

8.3k words.

Reviews are welcome.


	6. Chapter 6

XXXXX

Tsunade broke off her fighting with the Snake and stared at Naruto, realizing he was losing too much blood too fast. From her medical experience, she knew that he had barely any time left alive with a wound that deep and dangerous. Naruto fell to the ground, laid on his back, his eyes closing and breathing shallow.

Orochimaru stopped as well, realizing that his underling had lost. One of his most important resources in his possession was dead. He was observing their battle from the corner of his eye, curious as to how it would turn out. When he saw his student set aflame and fall, he couldn't spend much time dwelling on it. Even without his arms, he still felt he was more than enough for Tsunade. Still, seeing one of his more valued subordinates die was a bit unnerving, even for him. Kabuto was one of the most powerful men under his command. At least Kabuto managed to score a critical hit onto him. The boy would die soon without assistance. He would certainly not let her heal him.

Meanwhile, Tsunade felt her legs shake with worry. Seeing the boy bleeding out before her and watching him die was something she felt she was too familiar with. Like when Dan died in her arms, she felt powerless. It shouldn't happen to this boy. Not while he had his dream, not while Jiraiya had so much faith in him. This kid who stood up to her and challenged her to her face didn't deserve to die like that. She didn't want this for him at all!

'Please don't die. Please.' Tsunade thought as she started to run to him. 'What about your dream? Didn't you want to challenge me? Didn't you say you wouldn't stop until you beat me?'

Jiraiya believed him. Why couldn't she do the same? Naruto talked so much shit, and called her a bitch. He couldn't die, not until she told him why she was like this. He needed to hear everything; about why she was a bitch, about why she had no more faith in dreams. He needed to know so he could become something more than she ever could have been.

Somebody that would change the world, that's who Naruto would be.

"Hehehe." Chuckled Orochimaru, his attention turned back to Tsunade. She stopped running and turned towards her opponent. "Wasn't that boy your opponent just a while ago? Surely you can't tell me that you feel bad for him already?" He began to take a few steps forward towards her. "You know the deal can still be done. Let the boy die and heal my arms. I'll bring Dan and Nawaki back."

"It'll be like you're one big happy family again." He said, swallowing his sword once more. "You can finally love again Tsunade, you can finally start again."

Orochimaru casually strolled a few steps more. "Think about it, your little brother will finally be offered a chance at new life and be allowed to grow."

The Slug Princess stared down at the ground, the memories consuming her. Her past always reminding her of what she lost. She reached up and felt her necklace, touching the green stone in nostalgia.

She gave him this necklace on his birthday. He'd just turned 13 and was sent out on his first C-Rank mission. He was bubbling over with joy at it too, thinking he and his team earned it. Nawaki never realized that Tsunade had personally gone over to the Hokage and asked him to give the kid the mission. That she sent him to his death because he always complained about how he wanted to do tougher missions.

The day after he'd been given the mission to protect a small merchant, he stepped on an explosive tag. Orochimaru was supposed to protect him and his two teammates, but the explosive was just completely out of notice. She really couldn't blame her teammate. They were still in war and it was expected. Genin often died and were targeted by the enemy the most, to prevent them from growing up to be killing machines.

They returned later that day, just after she hugged him and wished him well on his first C- Rank mission. She remembered being told to come down to the Morgue and she didn't even know why. The moment she saw Orochimaru standing by the doors to the Morgue, she felt her stomach drop. Sensei had told her that her little brother had died. That he stepped upon an explosive tag, resulting in his death. He tried to remain as calm as possible, but his heart was breaking for his student.

Tsunade felt numb, unable to comprehend what occurred. They told her that if she wanted, she could confirm if it was him or not. As a medical professional, she could only nod that she wanted to. She needed to confirm it with her own eyes. She needed to know if he really was…gone. As she pushed the doors apart and saw the blackened corpse, she hardened herself emotionally, taking in the sight.

His legs and half of his torso were blown off, and they were placed at the bottom the table, as the doctors tried to identify the different parts. His fingers were missing, and in place of his hands were stumps. As she moved to his face, she found it completely unnoticeable. This couldn't have been her sweet brother. The boy who smiled always and bugged her for money. The annoying brat who often slept in her bed. It couldn't have been him. He no longer had a face as everything was blown or burnt off; all of his identifying marks on his face were gone, his hair burned away.

Sorting through her head, she realized that this was an explosive tag made by Stone Ninjas. None of the other villages had tags this powerful, not even her village. Whirlpool was an ally so only one remained. The Village Hidden in the Stone was the only culprit, they having some of the most powerful seal masters in the entire ninja world at that time.

Still, she needed to be sure that the body of the boy in front of her was truly her Nawaki. Walking around it, she kept trying to find some way of finding out this was not him. She wanted to think that he was lost, still outside the village. She thought that so much that she actually believed it for a moment, there was no way this body was Nawaki's.

Then she saw it; right on his chest. She still wasn't sure how, but embedded into his chest was the proof she needed to make this horror a reality.

The necklace she had given him was still there, the necklace of their Grandfather, the First Hokage. The heat and force of the blast had forced it into his chest, leaving it to be barely visible. Only a slight piece of the necklace was exposed, its bright green colors shining in the fluorescent light.

Afterwards, it was a blur, only remembering her screaming as loud as she could and throwing herself on the table next to her brother. The emotional wall she told herself she'd put up crumbled instantly. She lay next to him for several minutes holding his cold body beside her. It took the Hokage and several ANBU to pull her away from him and restrain her.

All she wanted to do was sleep with her little brother in her arms one last time.

Later on that week, after not sleeping for the entire time, she found an envelope from the Hokage by the door of her large estate. Glaring at it and feeling empty inside, Tsunade opened the envelope and stared at what it held. Emptying it into her hand she looked at the object and placed it around her neck. She wouldn't forget this ever.

Releasing the crystal, Tsunade returned herself to the present and raised her head, "Orochimaru. I want it so bad. So much that I think about it every time before I go to bed. It keeps me up so late at night I think I can never fall asleep, unless I drink 'till I black out."

He grinned, feeling like he finally got her to give up. He won.

"But you're forgetting one thing Orochimaru." She released her genjutsu, letting her age show. "I'm an old woman." She felt a small tear form in the corner of her eye and sighed.

"I've spent half of my life thinking about the past. The things I've done and the opportunities I've missed." She glanced at her wrinkled hand and watched her tear fall onto the back of it. "What good will it do in the end?"

Orochimaru felt uncomfortable looking at her. Seeing her as she was reminded him of his own mortality. Even if he could change bodies, he still was just like her. Aging, changing, and dying, she was a true testament to everything he fought. He couldn't wind up like her, a footnote in history. He didn't want himself to fall to the shadows of time and be forgotten. The thought terrified Orochimaru to his very core.

"We spent all of our childhood killing. Fighting in war and butchering innocents." Tsunade gazed at a strand of her hair by her face and saw it; gray and old, just like she was. "What would Dan say if he saw me as an old woman? How would Nawaki react to seeing his sister being such an old pathetic mess?"

Turning to the Snake Sannin, her eyes narrowed "I don't want to live forever, and I don't want to keep living in the past." She held up a basic ram seal and recast her genjutsu; the fake beauty overtaking her old features. "I want to believe in Naruto and for the future he holds, so I'm going to live for the future, and teach them how to be better than us!"

The Snake Sannin could only feel disappointed as looked back upon his old Teammate and grinned. "Have it your way Tsunade." He spat out Kusanagi from within his body and held onto it with his tongue. "Death is the only answer for you now." He said coldly.

She quickly got into a defensive stance and was prepared for another onslaught, only for Orochimaru to turn away from her and aim straight at Naruto. Running as fast as he could, he smiled at how sweet would be. He, Orochimaru, would be the one to kill the Nine Tailed Fox, the only wrench in his plans.

As he neared the boy, he reared his tongue back, prepared to pierce his body and end the child's life. With one quick stabbing motion, he pushed the blade forward, intending to it stab Naruto's heart. If this Naruto had such big dreams, he would be sure to end them here!

His eyes widened slightly as he saw his sword stopped, nearly a foot away from the Blonde nuisance. Tsunade stepped in front of the sword, taking it straight through the stomach.

"Why are you doing this Tsunade?" He angrily hissed at her. "Why waste your life for this boy?"

Hearing his question, she placed her hands on Kusanagi and gripped the blade with her bare hands. "Why am I doing this Orochimaru? Why?"

She raised her head, tears and determination in her clouding her eyes. "I'm doing it because I want to, because this kid and I have something to settle, and there is no way you are going BE IN MY WAY!"

The Slug Princess pulled the sword out of gut and held tightly onto the blade. She watched as Orochimaru was lifted as well and could only gaze at her in shock. Feeling the sword cut her palms; Tsunade lifted it over her head and threw as hard as she could in the opposite direction. There was no way he would get any nearer to him!

Orochimaru could only watch as he felt himself thrown hundreds of feet across the field; staring at the earth pass quickly beneath himself. Looking up, he saw Tsunade start tending to the Nine Tails.

Damn it all, he was so close!

Changing his gaze to his tattoos, he realized he still had enough energy to pull off one more technique. Forcing chakra into his arms, he moved the sword over his palms and quickly cut across them. 'Now the blood sacrifice is complete.' He thought as he felt his chakra burn his arms. The pain was unbelievable and nearly making him black out. Damn you Sarutobi, if this didn't work, he'd need to get out of here as fast as possible.

Having all the necessary chakra built up, he called for his technique.

"**Summoning Technique!"**

Feeling himself hit scales and flesh, he realized just where he was as he stuck himself quickly to his summon with his feet. Gazing up, he saw the familiar purple scales and horns. He'd summoned Manda, the Snake Lord.

"Manda! Hurry! We must take care of those two!" He hurriedly called aloud, hoping the snake would feel his urgency. "I'll give you 200 sacrifices if we kill those two now!" Manda felt the need to talk would be later, nodding his head at Orochimaru and gazing at the two Blondes on the ground. He'd talk to Orochimaru about this sudden annoyance later.

Tsunade meanwhile activated her Creation Rebirth technique, healing herself and restoring her chakra in the process. Feeling the wounds on her hands and stomach heal quickly, she turned her attention to Naruto. She was sure he was dead, if he kept bleeding as he did when she saw him; there was no way he'd live.

Naruto was lying on the ground, eyes closed in pain and both of his hands on his wound in his neck. He was no longer breathing, and she was sure his heart was stopped.

"Please don't die Naruto!" She cried as she knelt by his side began to shudder. 'Don't you want to drag me back to village? What about that faith Jiraiya has in you?' She sobbed, activating her healing jutsu and bringing it to his neck.

As she pulled his hands away from his neck, her eyes widened in shock. 'There was no way he could have…'

The large hole in his neck, which was the size of her fist, was completely cauterized, stopping himself from losing anymore blood in the area and preventing blood from going to the rest of his head. Somehow Naruto, in immense pain and as he was dying, managed to burn the wound. Against all odds, he now had a chance to survive. Without his help, she was sure he'd be dead now.

First, she focused on healing the hole, concentrating as hard as she could, pulling on her years of experience to do this. Her chakra began to rapidly work the wound, closing it over and healing the burned muscle, tissue, and arteries. She needed to work faster! Tsunade wasn't sure how much longer his brain could live without oxygen. She watched as the injury began to close up, observing how the scar tissue was forming. Now to get his heart going again…

Suddenly, she felt a huge presence of chakra directly behind her. She knew of only three things with that much power, herself knowing how to summon such a being. She didn't have time to react as she saw a massive snake in front of her, coiling back to attack.

XXXXX

Where was he again? Why was his neck hurting so much? Why was the bed so uncomfortable?

'And why am I thinking so much?' He wondered.

"Please don't die Naruto"

Who said that? He remembered losing a lot of blood and using his fire technique to burn the wound… after that, he couldn't remember.

'Oh yeah, I'm dying.'

He tried to move his body, but couldn't find the strength, as though his body was made of stone. In some ways, it was nice not having to worry about anything, not having to do anything except lie down and think.

'Wait!' He thought. 'I can't lie down and die here! People are counting on me!'

Slowly the blackness in front of his eyes started to change. He saw the Old Man Hokage, scowling and smoking his pipe. The man was dressed in his Hokage Robes and wearing his Kage hat. This couldn't be real, it shouldn't be. There was no way that he was still alive.

"Naruto, what do you think you are doing?" He asked with annoyance in his voice. He adjusted his hat and wiped his hand on his robes, trying to remove the wrinkles. Looking back to Naruto, he took another puff of his pipe and walked over to him.

"Why are you laying down here? Don't you have anywhere else to be?" The Third asked.

Closing his eyes, Naruto sighed in displeasure. "I think I'm dead Sensei." He opened them back up and saw his teacher chuckle at him before taking another drag from the pipe. "I very much doubt that Naruto."

"No, I'm really serious, I'm dead." The Blonde said in annoyance. "I'm really really dead."

The Old Man walked next to Naruto and crouched down, looking the boy in the eyes. "Not while Jiraiya and I still have faith in you."

At those words, Naruto woke up. Feeling his eyes finally open up and he took a gasp of air, as though he hadn't taken a breath in days. Unfortunately, he turned to find Tsunade with her back to him, and in front of her, a large Snake getting ready to strike.

A snake the size of the Hokage tower. No… wait, it was bigger.

"OH SHIT!" Naruto shouted, shocking both Orochimaru atop of his summon and Tsunade, who screamed in surprise. How the hell was he still alive?

She didn't have much time to process what just happened when the Snake struck, its maw opened and ready to swallow the pair whole. She closed her eyes and held her breath, feeling as though everything she had done was in vain. This was finally it for Tsunade, the Slug Princess. There was no way anything could save them in time. Still keeping her eyes closed tight, she waited for several seconds before wondering one thing aloud… "What the hell?"

Opening her eyes and glancing ahead, she saw the snakes mouth opened fully, before it slowly began to close. Looking around, she just wondered what the hell was going on. She looked back at Naruto and saw he was fine, his eyes wide in shock as much as hers.

Why were they still both alive?

"**I thought I recognissssed that scent."** The large snake hissed at the pair. **"I wassss hoping I'd get to meet you…"**

Still in shock, Tsunade wondered if it was talking about herself when she realized one thing. It was talking to Naruto. Naruto! Of all people, why him?

Naruto stood up and wobbled forward, his legs almost giving out from beneath himself. Standing straight, he walked in front of Tsunade and made eye contact with the massive snake before quickly bowing. "Lord Manda." Naruto said formally. He was going out on a limb here, but he was pretty sure that this was the Snake Lord everyone was afraid of.

Gazing at Naruto, it began to take him in, examining him with his large eyes, and learning everything it could about him. **"Yessss, you are Naruto, the one Kosssshi spoke of…"** The snake hissed. **"You sssertainly seem as weak as he ssssaid" **Slowly, Manda lowed his head a bit more and rested the rest of his body upon the ground. He was truly interested in Naruto. Everything he'd heard about the boy was very enthralling. Manda knew Koshi was not one to give praise easily. His son tended to eat his brothers and sisters when they'd try even talk back to him. Hearing his most cruel and terrible child even talk about a human… Well, it certainly interested him.

"MANDA!" Orochimaru roared. "Why have we not killed him yet!" Somehow, Naruto managed to stop his own summon and even worse, his own summon wanted to talk to the boy. "Why have we stopped!"

Manda felt annoyed. Just who did this human think he was talking to? Ah well, he'd ignore it for now. 200 sacrifices for later would certainly be a nice addition to his belly. Orochimaru and his arrogance certainly was comical and would make good entertainment for dinner.

"**Quiet Orochimaru. Do you not recognize a fellow sssummoner?"**

Hearing those words, Orochimaru fell into fury. His whole face contorted in anger. Naruto was a snake summoner? NARUTO? The Nine Tails? Summoning his snakes? When did this happen? How did it occur without him knowing?

"Why was I never told of this Manda?" Orochimaru said, barely controlling his rage. This was something he could never have planned for.

"**Do not think I'm a messsssenger for you Orochimaru. Whether or not my children deemed it necessary to tell you isssss none of my concern."**

Tsunade just sat there open mouthed, watching as Orochimaru was being told off by his own summon. It was too funny were it not for the fact that the snake almost killed her. Looking up at Naruto, she could only gaze in amazement. This whole time, she never knew that Naruto was a snake summoner.

Turning his head back to Naruto, his eyes gleamed into what Naruto could only call a smile. **"Isss it true?" **He asked the boy.

Tilting his head in confusion, Naruto couldn't figure out what he meant. What was true? What the hell was the Hebi talking about?

"**What you want to ussse us for. What you want to use my clan for."** Manda stated. **"You said that you wanted to use usss for protecting your friends and precious people, why?"** He chuckled at it. He'd never heard that before.

Naruto felt himself bristle in anger and glared at the snake, clenching his fists. "Yeah, it's true; I do want to protect everyone important to me. Are you going to laugh at me too? You think it's funny?"

Manda felt slightly surprised, he didn't expect this boy to talk to him like that. Then again, he never expected that a boy would be a summoner of his clan. The Snake lord let out a slow hiss and glared back at him. **"No, I don't think it'ssss funny actually. I think it'ssss weak and pathetic. With those idealssss you'll only get yourself killed."**

The Uzamaki felt angry. How dare this fucking snake insult him like that? Who cares if this snake could kill him, no one insulted him like that. "Yeah! Well, what do you believe in huh? You think that because you're a big snake, you're right all the time? I can't believe I wanted to summon you guys if all you do is second guess me! I'm not your master, and I don't ever expect to be treated like one, but I damn well don't expect for you to be an asshole and treat me like shit!"

Now the Snake was taken back. He was never spoken to that way, never in his entire life, and he was certainly never called an "asshole" before. Humans would always shrink in fear before him, begging for their lives before being eaten. Now, this boy, this 'Naruto' had stood before him without fear when defending his ideals.

The Snake Sannin grinned on the back of Manda, realizing that this boy just sealed his fate. Even he would not dare talk to this Snake like this. Truly this boy was feeling suicidal. Orochimaru was laughing inside, gleeful that today something would go right.

The area was quiet for several moments as the Snake glared at Naruto, and the boy just glared back with equal intensity. Manda let out a low hiss and continued to look upon the boy, each breath from the Snake causing Naruto's hair to flow.

"**I've had seventy-nine ssssummoners in the entire time I have been alive. All of them are dead exsssept for you and two others now."** The Lord now spoke in an even tone, neither anger nor mirth in its voice. **"We alwaysss asked them why they wish to use ussss. For every single one of them, they have all wanted our abilitiessss for their own gains. Sssso they could become more powerful.**

Manda began to move away from Naruto, feeling a tiny amount of respect for the tiny child. **"Yet, you come along and want ussss to help people and change the world?"** There was so much irony. He knew how humans felt about his clan, and they were right. His kind had never helped humans; they only ate and killed them. **"We've never fought for any other reason than to kill and help them further their own personal agendassss."**

As they talked, Tsunade was prepared. She had cut her thumb upon a small pebble, and already had her jutsu ready. One call and Katsuysa would be ready to fight, taking this fucking Snake down. As she listened in on their talk, she observed how Manda was; how the Snake seemed to talk to Naruto in an almost respectful way. This was completely crazy on so many levels. Manda never talked to his food.

"**I like you. More than I've ever liked any prey." **The Snake began to unwind and move away from Naruto. **"If you ever find yoursssself in trouble in the future, I'll allow you to sssssummon me once. This is my gift to the newest sssssummoner of my clan."**

"**I hope you use it well. I'm looking forward as to what you can fight that will ever need my assistance."** And with that, the snake popped out of existence, leaving Orochimaru falling down to the ground.

With Manda gone, Tsunade chuckled. Scratch that, she burst into full blown laughter. She couldn't believe it. Manda! Of all things she could have ever seen, she had never seen Manda act like that! Never! To top it off, Orochimaru was in front of her, his normally white face turned bright pink with rage. She never would have imagined Orochimaru being told off by his own summon! It was too damn rich!

Meanwhile, Orochimaru was shaking with fury. Damn it to hell. Tsunade was laughing at him. The fucking whore. Who did she think she was dealing with! The Snake Sannin released a scream of rage before regurgitating his sword again, charging the two, intending for their deaths. Unfortunately, Tsunade was already prepared and called out her jutsu.

"**Summoning Technique!"**

Between them Katsuya, the Queen Slug popped into existence, and she gazed down at the small man carrying his sword. **"Orochimaru..." **She hissed, feeling her hatred for the man. She knew all too well of his exploits and dealings. **"Are you looking to challenge me?"**

Now, Orochimaru knew when it was time to flee, he knew when he was beaten, but after the fiasco of what transpired that day, he could only say one thing before he sunk his body into the soil to escape..

"FUCK!"

XXXXX

Feeling like he was still in a daze, Naruto glanced back to Tsunade and sighed before he began to feel his neck.

The skin was very sensitive, and felt wrong. He'd need to look at it later. Turning fully to Tsunade, he smiled at her and held his hand out to her. Walking to her, he gave her a full blown smile and closed his eyes.

"Thank you Tsunade."

She looked back at him as she sat on the ground still before returning his smile. Raising her own hand, she gripped it and pulled herself up. "Naruto, I have something for you." Reaching around her neck, she lifted her necklace off and gazed at it fondly before placing it over his head. "I have given this to my little brother and to a man I once loved."

"You won the bet Naruto." She said fondly. "When you were lying on the ground, I rushed over and I had gotten on my knees to heal you. You made me kneel. Something I thought I wouldn't do for you." Pulling him over to her, Tsunade wrapped her arms around him and pressed him into her breast. She needed to know if this wasn't a dream or not. This child could not exist. Not in this world.

She leaned forward and pressed her face into his hair, and for the first time in years, she felt the tears fully form. As if the floodgates were opened, she finally began to let it all out.

"I-I b-believe in you N-Naruto." She sobbed. "If J-Jiraiya can do it, s-s-so can I." Pressing him tighter, she didn't want to let go. Not this time.

Katsuya observed the two for a moment and would ask Tsunade about it later. For now, she decided it would be best to leave them alone. She felt glad, noticing that for the first time in a very long time, Tsunade looked happy. In a large puff of smoke, Katsuya disappeared.

Naruto himself was feeling so confused. How can this be? Half an hour ago, she knocked him five feet deep into the ground, now, she believed in him. Naruto tried to think of something to say but decided that there we some things you couldn't say in words. Raising his own arms, he wrapped them around her and began to pull her in tight, closing his eyes. The two didn't notice Shizune and Jiraiya running towards them. Both of them confused as to why they were hugging one another.

'This is nice.' The two Blondes thought.

XXXXX

After reading the message from the Messenger hawk, he felt his stomach grow queasy. Reading the contents of the message over and over again. This wasn't very good. He placed the scroll in his pocket and jumped out the window of his small hotel.

Soon after the whole event, and informing Jiraiya and Shizune of what occurred, Jiraiya couldn't describe the pride he was feeling. His new student had come along far, and he could only get better.

Tsunade meanwhile had taken Naruto to a ramen stand to tell Naruto everything. To tell him about why she turned out the way she did. To tell him so he could learn from the mistakes they made when they were younger.

He pulled out his Sensei's pipe and began to walk out into the streets of Tanzaku town, his last night being here before he left with the rest of them back to Konoha. Packing it with his tobacco, he continued down the road, observing the night life in this crowded city. Jiraiya walked past whores and bars, not caring too much about either of them anymore.

He just kept walking and saw the many restaurants and beckoning him to come on down, but he just ignored them. The main strip was filled to the brim with many different kinds of meals. Tanzaku town, being a trade city, meant that a lot of different dishes and cuisines were always available.

Looking ahead, he saw Naruto and Tsunade in the stand, with Naruto just staring at his ramen bowl. Half of it eaten, and from what he could tell, it was cold. Gazing back at the boy, he saw how quiet and forlorn he was. Tsunade must have been telling him quite a bit.

"Jiraiya Sensei." Naruto said. "Is what she saying true? About the things you guys did in the Second World War?"

The Sage just took a seat on the other side of the boy and didn't make eye contact with him. "Yeah, Tsunade is telling you the truth." Really, Jiraiya wanted to just tell him that it was all made up, that everything that she was saying wasn't real, but he couldn't. This was too important.

"I have a few stories to tell you as well Naruto, but they're for later." Jiraiya stated. "We need you to know what we went through so you don't make the mistakes we made." He placed his hand on his back rubbed slightly, still feeling those ghost pains.

Getting up, Naruto began to walk away. Some of this stuff was just simply unbelievable. "I need some time alone. Please." Nodding to his student, he watched as the Chuunin retreated, losing him in the crowd of people.

Taking Naruto's seat, he moved closer to Tsunade. "I've just received a message from Konoha." Taking another puff of the pipe, he looked at her. "The Daimyo personally requested that Naruto be 'Honored' by the Daimyo himself."

She gazed at Jiraiya before shaking her head. "If those two fight, we both know Naruto will die."

"Why did we teach her? Why in the hell did we do it?" Tsunade said angrily. "You did it out of some fucked up sense of owing it to your student and thinking she was some 'Prophecy' shit, and I did it because I was being paid."

"How do you feel about him using snakes?" The Sage muttered, playing with the pipe in his mouth. "You should know just what the cost of using them is." Setting down his pipe, he pulled out another pinch of tobacco and placed it in the pipe.

"Jiraiya, just who in the hell let him summon those things? Who would be that irresponsible?"

"Sensei did." He said, lighting the pipe once more. "And if Sensei did it, we can only trust his judgement."

Rapping her fingers on the table, she sighed. "You do know that I want him to summon Slugs right?"

Inhaling deeply, he let the calming herb take over his body. "Yeah, but snakes will help him better. As tough as it is to admit, the Snake Lord can beat the Toad Boss any day. Knowing his sister, she's going to call on his power to fight Naruto. He needs all the help he can get."

"So Natsuki can summon Toads huh?" Tsunade sighed. "Well, I also made her sign the Slug contract as well."

Jiraiya started to cough, his eyes watering and his lungs hurting. Did she really just say what he thought she said? "So she's a dual summoner? Damn, how in the hell did she pull that one off?"

The Blonde stroked her ponytail and closed her eyes. "The fact that our summons get along and that she is the Fourths Daughter is the only reason they probably allowed it."

Poor kid had everything stacked against him. "So she's the first dual summoner in nearly thirty years huh? Why didn't I ever know about this Tsunade?" He felt a little miffed about it. He usually was privy to this kind of information.

"She told me to not tell you. Natsuki said you'd be angry and upset about it, that you wanted her to summon Toads, not Slugs." The Slug Princess looked into his eyes. "Manipulating little bitch, huh? Played me like sucker."

He could only shake his head in amazement before looking back at her. "I made her sign that contract when she was six. Quite impressive she convinced you to let her. She's very good at getting what she wants."

"I'll say."

Reaching over, she grabbed the pipe and held it in front of herself. "This belonged to Sensei." Tsunade said before taking a few drags from it. "Too bad I hate smoking."

Jiraiya grinned at her and took back the pipe. "I seem to recall you smoking cigarettes to look cool for Inuzuka Kaiba. You really liked guys wearing makeup at the time."

Tsunade rolled her eyes before ordering sake for the pair of them. "Yeah, and I recall you wearing a thong for a certain Aburame."

The two just glanced at each other before laughing. "Oh god Jiraiya, why in the hell did you ever do that?" She just could not believe how a sixteen year old Jiraiya managed to get pantsed by Sarutobi Sensei, only to expose her teammate wearing a thong. Orochimaru wouldn't stop bugging him about it for weeks.

"Listen, you'd be surprised how strange those Aburame really are. The women of that clan have some weird fetishes." He chuckled, those were good days. Sometimes they did get to be children. It wasn't always war and violence. Not always.

She smiled and then lowered her eyes. "I'm scared for Naruto. I don't want him to lose himself. We lost ourselves so quickly once the war swept us up and most of us still bear such deep scars from it all."

"I know, but this new generation needs to be prepared. War is coming soon, it's only inevitable. A vicious cycle of hate that can't be broken until one person comes along and changes it for the better."

XXXXX

Sakura panted as she finally finished her tenth lap around Konoha. She fell over and lay on her back, staring at the red sky. Her whole body felt tired and numb, and it was an effort to try and even move. She finally arrived back at Training field 7.

For the past week, she'd been training with Gai and Lee, who she began to really enjoy. After the invasion and being saved by Naruto, she realized that she needed to be stronger. She found out that her Sensei was in the hospital and was injured due to extreme mental trauma. When she looked for Sasuke, she found him training, like he always did. When trying to talk to him, he glared hard at her, his Sharingan red and angry at her.

She looked around for Naruto for hours before giving up and walking away. It was really lonely for her. She'd never admit it, but she was shy around boys, very shy. She didn't have any male connections, other than her own team, and she really couldn't consider Kakashi too much of a friend. He was far too detached to her and Naruto, really only focusing his time on Sasuke.

Naruto was apparently sent away on a mission according to the council records. The council was the only power currently in the village, ensuring the Leaf did not erupt into chaos.

With Sasuke, no matter how much she told herself otherwise, he just would not ever try to get close to her. Even as she tried to appeal to his ego and help him with any problem he had, he would brush her off, not even treating her like a person, more like an insect.

It hurt, more than she wanted to admit it, it hurt Sakura so bad, and made her want to cry. Boys never seemed to want to be around her, and it made her chest tighten. She was Thirteen years old, and she'd never done anything with a boy. She never kissed one or had been kissed by one, never had anything said to her that was nice by one, other than Naruto, and she never even held a boys hand. It made her sad, and she knew the reason why.

Sakura Haruno was a bitch.

There was no way to deny it in her mind. Thinking of how she would ignore everyone else in favor of Sasuke was unfair. The boy would never pay her any form of attention, never any form of respect, and what was worse was that he treated her like a second rate human being. Sasuke could never say more than three words to her before he turned away and began his brooding.

Getting up, she stretched a bit and finally got her breath back. After hours of running without chakra, she knew it was time for food. Maybe something quick and cheap like ramen or dango. She didn't care too much anymore about trying to watch her physique. She was too hungry to care anymore after training.

Walking home, she noticed how the sky turned bright crimson, and the sun was beginning to set on the Hokage Monument. Their Stern looks gazed at her, and she felt something within herself move. She needed to change herself. Not just physically, but mentally as well. She needed to learn how fight, she needed to learn how to survive, she needed to be ready for when Naruto came back. So she could pay him back after he saved her life when they were with Gaara.

It was unfair how she treated her Blonde teammate, realizing that overall; she was a real bitch to him. He did nothing but help her and make sure that she was okay, and she treated him like dirt. If anything, she'd be sure to make it up for him. Her stomach growled and began to turn, reminding her of the need to feed. It was dango time, deciding that dango would good. She'd eat ramen when Naruto would come back to Konoha, as a welcome home gift. He'd pay of course.

Maybe she might agree to let Naruto call it a date between friends.

Maybe let him hold her hand as well.

XXXXX

Instead of training or wandering around the Town, he instead retreated back to the Hotel he was staying at, so he could just close his eyes and relax. After walking down the street, he noticed that many people bowing slightly to him and moved out of his way. His Chuunin flak jacket and Konoha Headband told everyone in the area that he was Ninja. Inside of himself though, Naruto felt sick.

Arriving at the Hotel, he began his trek up the stairs and down the hall to his room. He needed to think and relax. Naruto wanted to process what he was told and think about his own future, if there was really a future in the first place; if he even wanted to be a ninja anymore after learning the truth about being one.

Tsunade had told him quite simply that the reason Konoha won the war was a large part due to her.

Naruto at first had his doubts. After all, she was just one person, what could she have done to really change the war? Seeing his hesitation, she began to tell him of everything she'd done to help the Leaf claim victory over so many of its enemies. She'd managed to counter every poison every country made, developed new techniques for healing, created poisons that no other village managed to find a cure for, and created two of the most important inventions in the ninja world, the Blood and Military pills.

Looking at her, the boy began to develop new respect for her, but then she began to tell him of the darker side of the war. In school, he was told that they simply beat all of the other villages due to their own superior ninja, weapons, and tactics. He believed it too, but there were far deeper reasons. The ones he was told of were excuses to brainwash the children into thinking themselves better than all of the other villages. Realistically, Naruto found out Konoha was not always the top dog.

She told him of the many children she killed, of the many villagers and innocent people that were butchered by her. Tsunade was a trained killer, a ninja, and she carried out her duty like the rest of her friends and family. There wasn't time for regret or pity during that war, instead, all there was time for was killing; something she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were very good at.

In the beginning, the war was going terribly. Naruto wasn't sure how to feel about his home village losing a war, but it was happening. Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and several small villages like Amergakure had all signed a nonaggression treaty named the Treaty of Steel and decided to go to war. This was known as the Shinobi Coalition, their goal being to bring every country to their knees and divide up the lands amongst themselves. With a massive army of nearly fifteen thousand Ninja, and nearly a hundred thousand Samurai, Konoha was at a loss of how to defend itself. Kumogakure was swiftly crushed and forced into the Coalition's ranks. All of the smaller villages were quickly under the control of the Coalition as well, by threat of force, or force itself.

Konoha was surrounded on all sides by enemies, leaving their backs towards the ocean with their only ally, Mizugakure. The Land of Water was the most powerful Ninja village at the time, boasting thousands of ninja and the most superior navy that was ever seen in history. Seeing that its power was threatened by the Coalition, Mizu sent ninja and supplies to the Land of Fire, ready to help defend it.

Not only were weapons, food, and men given to Konoha, but Mizu sent several of their finest Shinobi as well, training and giving guidance to the Leaf, preparing them for this dangerous war. Mizu was busy during the war with their navy, systematically destroying all of the ports and transports on the sea. Hiding their ninja out at sea, they would patiently stay in the water for days on a small boat until they found their enemy. Then they would simply swim underwater and destroy the boat from the bottom with their many water jutsu. After the whole war, almost every trading ship and port was gone, reducing the ability for economic expansion by the other countries, and their ability to send supplies to other countries of the Coalition. The land route was dangerous, and often plagued by Rouge Ninja and Bandits.

Meanwhile on the mainland, it was not going as well for Konoha. Despite being trained by some of the finest Ninja from Mizugakure, they were slowly being pushed back. Iwa Ninja were vastly superior, their training marking them to be powerful killers. Within a few years, Konoha had lost half of its land, driving them back into the sea. The enemy was also right on the doorstep of Konoha, making this the closest that they had ever come to falling and losing their home.

Mizu was surviving well, not having lost many ninja and their trade routes were still going strong as they traded with the South and East. The rest of the countries were in economic turmoil, all of them in a deep depression and on the verge of economic collapse. The only thing keeping it all from falling apart was the war and that was driving them down further. This war needed to be ended soon; the Coalition was busy dealing with internal politics and difficulty at keeping the smaller villages under their control. Iron, Whirlpool, Bear, Ice, Rice, Bird, and so many other small countries were under the oppression of the Coalition, but that still did not stop them from fighting, so in secret they met up with the Leaf to discuss how they were going to fight and win this war.

Underneath the nose of the Coalition, with the help of many of the small villages, Mizu, and Konoha, they formed the Axis under the New Shinobi Pact.

Through Guerilla tactics, the smaller villages had systematically destroyed all of the major trade routes, blowing up bridges and destroying the roads and highways. While the small villages did not have many ninja under their employ, they still contributed to the Axis' efforts. All of the Major villages were effectively cut off from each other. Over land, they were unable to transport food and equipment without raiding parties from small bands of ninja or local militia antagonizing them.

Sometimes, they would hide explosive tags beneath the ground and detonate them, killing the transport and destroying the supplies. Most commonly, villagers would ensure that there were no ninja on the caravan before attacking. Alerting their neighbors and friends, they would often arm themselves with crossbows and wait by the road, ready to ambush.

With the Coalitions armies starving and underfed, Konoha began to quickly push back. The Leaf Ninja were trained well, and years of fighting had led to them being capable killers. The Axis powers were still well fed and equipped, due directly to Mizu. For the first time in ten years, the Axis began to push the Coalition back into their homelands. Beginning with Sunagakure, the isolated village in the desert quickly fell. Being cut off from their supply routes and being seiged by Konoha, in less than a year, Suna claimed defeat. Two months later, the Sand joined the Axis.

The next year would be a series of large skirmishes against the Stone and Lightning. The smaller villages like Grass and Rain fell immediately to the power of the Axis. It was only a matter of time until Stone and Lightning would fall. Kumo surrendered immediately after the Raikage's family was killed. Each person in his family was decapitated, and all of their heads were placed on pikes outside of the Kage Tower, as a warning to their leader.

Naruto found out that Tsunade and Orochimaru sent the message. Jiraiya wanted to be the lookout, keeping himself from having to see the terrible deed being done. Tsunade was the one who suggested the idea of removing their heads as a way to send a message and Orochimaru agreed to it whole heartedly. Jiraiya would only provide backup in case they were discovered, but it was an excuse. In reality, he couldn't do it. He couldn't kill innocents like that. Hearing about this, Naruto began to wonder what kind of woman Tsunade was. What kind of woman would do that? And then there was the whole event involving the extermination of defectors from the Land of Fire. What kind of person killed people in cold blood like that?

Once Kumogakure had fallen, only the Stone remained, and they would not give up. Stone Ninjas were famous for never running and never giving up. It took a near extermination of the village and forcing the Tsuichikage to sign the peace treaty before all of the people of the Stone village were massacred.

The Axis had forced the Coalition to its knees and destroyed them all, ensuring peace for many years to come, or so they hoped..

The Second Great Shinobi World War had ended, but many of the villages were destroyed. Kusagakure and Amegakure were once proud villages, and reduced to rubble. There was nothing to help these villages restore power, and many of them still continue to rot in the rubble. Konoha had restored its size, and boosted its standing among the most powerful villages.

Before, the Samurai were the ruling class, making them the backbone of war. After the war however, many began to see how the Ninja were capable warriors, and they became the favorite of the Daimyos, changing centuries of tradition with a single war. Samurai clans began to disperse, making them head to the Land of Iron, a place where they could continue to train their skills without worry and forget their shame.

Mizu however was in deep trouble. After the whole war, economic turmoil began in the country. As all of the other countries opened trade routes and traded with the East once more, Mizu found that it's monopoly on the sea routes was ended. Konoha had a massive fleet of merchant ships that remained untouched during the war thanks in part to the protection by Mizu. Konoha began to rapidly boost its economy, stealing much of the trade and goods from their former ally. Within three years, thanks to aggressive economic expansion and trading, Konoha had become the most powerful village ever seen before. Mizu was suffering and later on, the Bloodline extermination would seal the village's fate.

And that was only the Second Great Shinobi World War. There were two others he had to learn about.

Naruto sighed, closing his eyes and laying upon his back on the small cot in the room. For several minutes he continued to ponder on what he was told before he went to the bathroom. Gazing at his neck, he felt the skin and noticed how dark and wrinkled the skin was. Tsunade told him that he was scarred; the burn mark would never leave him. It certainly did not look good, it's color dark, and the skin was slightly tough and wrinkled. He supposed he should have been happy that he was alive, but the mark served as a reminder to him. To how close he came to death and nearly lost the struggle.

It scared him deeply, and hearing of this war happening made him realize just how lucky he was. He doubted he could survive a war. Touching his neck again, he felt the urge to run. To run as far away from this war ravaged land as possible. Another war was bound to happen again; another war would no doubt put him and his friends in danger.

His stomach turned as he thought of his friends. What would they do without him? How could they face off against an army of hundred of ninja?

For the first time in a long time, Naruto realized just how small of a person he was in this world. Even with a demon.

There was only one way to stop this ever from happening again.

He would take over the world. All of it. Not just the ninja lands but also the lands to the East, and all of the Islands to the South. He'd need to stop this all from happening ever again. Naruto was sure he could do it. He would stop this cycle permanently.

Of course, it would take a little time.

The one war to end all wars.

XXXXX

I've kind of imagined Naruto as Griffith/Guts from Berserk. He has that kind of glow about himself that brings everyone to him. I also plan on having Naruto take a similar path like Guts, with all of the downs and no ups. You guys who read Berserk know what I'm talking about. For anyone else, if you are mature enough, Berserk is a fantastic Manga to read.

Also, I want to take a tactical approach to things. I can't really imagine ninja going head to head on an open battle field, it just makes no sense. I wanted to think that they had some sense and used strategy to fight.

9k words. Oh, also, I'm looking for a beta. Just send me a private message.

Review.


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